Redux
by vesine
Summary: One Lorelai exits and another one enters. Emily's machinations have tragic consequences. (AU that originates from a key event before the main series.)
1. Prolouge

_**Prologue**_

Lorelai hated funerals.

Well she hated this one. She'd never been to any others though so couldn't say for certain she'd hate all of them.

There were several reasons for this.

Mommy was super sad for one. She had cried every day after Grandmother had died. Daddy had tried to cheer her up but it hadn't worked.

"She made me who I am today. After what happened…She helped me reach my full potential! Now she's gone! What am I supposed to do now" Lorelai had overheard Mommy crying to Daddy the other night.

Daddy had tried to help. Lorelai knew Grandpa had tried to help her as well but Mommy still seemed super sad.

Secondly loads of grown-ups were also acting super sad and offering "condolences". Lorelai did not know what that word meant but she'd heard it a lot said to Grandpa and Mommy.

It was annoying.

And speaking of annoying there was Christopher.

Christopher was being super annoying. He constantly wanted to play and stuff. It was a funeral! You weren't meant to play at funerals. They were meant to be sad and boring. Frankly Lorelai just wanted to go home and get ready for school on Monday. She liked school.

Then she had found it.

A picture of a girl, "No" Grandmother's voice echoed in her head "A young lady", in a photo on Grandpa's desk.

She didn't think anyone had noticed her come into the study. She'd been very sneaky.

Lorelai looked harder at the photo.

The girl (lady) looked a lot like her mom, though a few years younger, and Lorelai felt drawn to the mysterious woman.

She was still staring at the picture when her Grandpa came in a few moments later.

Her Grandpa stared at the girl in the picture for a long time before coming over and talking to her.

"What are you doing in here Bea?" Grandpa asked with a smile that seemed sad. Grandpa had been very sad since Grandmother had gone to heaven.

"It was boring out there and Christopher was being annoying again." Lorelai pouted.

"He's only four years old Bea. He doesn't understand how to behave properly yet. Especially at an event like this." Grandpa said somewhat sternly. "But I agree with you that it was quite boring out there." Grandpa winked at her, and Lorelai giggled, before he explained further. "Your Grandmother was a very influential women Bea, especially these last few years, and your Mother and Father had to make sure her life was properly celebrated."

"Grandmother was super old though." Lorelai argued. "It's not a surprise that she died and went to Heaven now."

Grandpa actually laughed at that. If a bit sadly.

"I think she would have agreed with you there. She would have hated all this fuss. Or at least pretended to." A wistful smile followed that statement. "You're a lot like her you know Bea. Very blunt. Your mother took a lot of that from her as well."

Grandpa paused to think about the recently dead woman.

"She lived ninety-six years. Such a good long life. A very fine innings indeed." Grandpa smiled again. Then his eyes focused once again on the photo of the pretty young lady.

"If only we could all live so long." He continued his tone far more bitter than it was before. His voice becoming tinged with sadness once again.

"Do you know who the lady is Grandpa?" Lorelai asked excitedly about the figure in the photo. Grandpa had seemed to recognise her quite well.

"You don't recognise her?" Grandpa asked shocked. He seemed really surprised.

"No…" Lorelai thought hard. "Should I?" Lorelai asked back.

Grandpa then started muttering to himself.

"Too painful perhaps… Not enough memories maybe? Then again no photos being out? Only six…She still can't be angry can she? Resentment? That day though… Oh Rory…" Grandpa sighed and the mutterings stopped.

"Grandpa?" Lorelai questioned as the man came out of his thoughts.

"That's your Grandma Lorelai." Grandpa said. Somehow both reluctant to say who the girl was and yet also proud about the girl in the photo's identity.

"But Grandmother Lorelai died when she was really really old. The priest said so today!" Lorelai exclaimed. "That lady in the photo is really really young." Lorelai continued confused. "She shouldn't be dead yet."

"No she shouldn't" Grandpa whispered softly.

"Your Grandmother Lorelai was my mother Bea." Grandpa stared at the photo of the younger lady again. Then Grandpa pointed at the girl in the photo. "Your Grandma Lorelai, the lady in the photo, was your Mother's mother…My daughter." Grandpa said sadly.

"Mommy's mommy?" Lorelai asked with awe. "I didn't know mommy even had a mommy! She never talks about her. Is she dead? She must be dead right! Or she'd come visit. What happened?"

Richard Gilmore looked sadly at his great-granddaughter. The fourth member of his family to bear the name Lorelai.

"That, my dear Bea, is a very very long story."


	2. Chapter 1: The Accident

_**Chapter One: The Accident **_

_**Trix **_

Lorelai Gilmore held Lorelai Gilmore's hand as Lorelai Gilmore took her last breath.

Beside her she heard sobbing begin. Not from the little girl, holding her hand, but from her son.

It was understandable perhaps as he had just lost his daughter. Less than two days after losing his wife as well.

It was, Lorelai thought, a particularly unpleasant way to end the year. Even if it was only the 27th of December.

She had come as quickly as she could to Hartford after Richard had called her distraught in the very early hours of Boxing Day in London.

It had been a scheme by Emily to try and mend fences with the second Lorelai apparently.

(So very typical of Emily)

Invite Christopher Hayden for a meal on Christmas Day so that the youngest Lorelai could have both parents at Christmas dinner. Possibly even bring the two parents back together if things went well.

An argument had inevitably occurred and both women had stormed out of the house, arguing, with young Christopher attempting to act as peacemaker.

What happened next would have been farcical had it not ended so tragically.

Her granddaughter had gotten into one of her parent's cars to drive around and calm down (having taken the keys from their bowl). A stubborn Emily had entered the passenger seat and refused to move, arguing that she had the right, as it was in fact her car and not Lorelai's. Christopher Hayden had jumped in to ensure that her granddaughter didn't end up killing her mother, and herself, while driving recklessly.

At least that was what Richard had thought occurred as he watched baffled, through the window, while the youngest Gilmore hugged him and asked what the other three were doing.

The car had driven off and that was the last time that Richard had seen his wife or Christopher Hayden alive.

It had been a drunk driver on the wrong side of the road that had caused it. (Christmas cheer taken to the extreme). Emily and Christopher had been killed instantly while Lorelai had been critically injured. She had been brought to hospital unconscious and had not woken up.

She never would now.

As her granddaughter flat lined the doctors burst in. They began desperate attempts to resuscitate.

All in vain.

The confused little girl holding Lorelai's hand squeezed it tighter.

Lorelai Leigh Gilmore still hadn't said a word to her since she'd arrived.

Lorelai's heart went out to her great-granddaughter. She had lost her own mother young to tuberculosis in 1926. Her proud father coping with his grief by being determined to make his only surviving child a worthy heir to his branch of the Gilmores.

He had succeeded of course. Then again she was healthy. Never ill. As father had said:

"Gilmores don't get sick."

She tried to forget her older brother (dead to Spanish flu) and her younger sister (dead to the tuberculosis that had also killed their mother).

"True Gilmores didn't get sick" she had reassured herself over the years.

True Gilmores were useful and self-reliant. Her father had taught her that. Even as The Depression had begun and then raged on for years.

Gilmores triumphed over adversity.

When she had married Charles the amount that she had brought to the marriage was significant. In fact it was more than he brought (even if his line of Gilmores had the better social standing at the time). She'd always had a talent for investing and had grown the family fortune significantly until Charles had passed shortly before their 30th anniversary.

Even "The Dick", who was Elias Huntzberger, would admit she had significant talent in managing the family money.

The older Lorelai could see the differences in the case of her young great granddaughter though. .

The poor little girl was undergoing a somewhat dissimilar scenario to the one that had dominated Lorelai's younger years.

It was better in some ways. The loss of her siblings still pained her and thankfully the younger Lorelai would never suffer that heartache, the survivors guilt, of being the last child left of a parent.

It was perhaps the only positive of the situation.

Lorelai had been nine when her mother had died. The little girl next to her had only turned six mere weeks before and was now experiencing the same tragedy.

Only worse, because the girl had lost her father as well (absent though he may have been). Emily was also dead but from what Richard had told her over the years the two hadn't been very close due to the second Lorelai's intervention.

A small mercy.

Nevertheless the legacy of the whole Gilmore family now rested on a little girl's shoulders. There would be no additional children from her granddaughter and Richard was unlikely to produce an heir either.

Lorelai mused more.

The fact was the legacy of Straub's branch of The Hayden's was in even direr straits. Lorelai the third was never going to keep the Hayden or Gilmore name when she married. Lorelai almost chuckled at the thought of Straub flailing.

If Elias was a dick then Straub was an ass. He'd proved that the past few days.

The Hayden's had not visited Lorelai Victoria Gilmore before she passed away. This, the eldest Lorelai felt, was both rude and exceptionally idiotic of them. They might not have liked her granddaughter, she had after all derailed their son's future, but the fact was that the only living remainder of him was in the form of his daughter. That meant they should at least attempt to get involved.

"What do I do Trix?" Her son asked, in a voice that was laced with despair.

Lorelai Leigh Gilmore didn't say anything but looked up at her great grandmother nonetheless, an expectant expression on her face, also waiting for an answer.

"Well it's late so I think you should take Lorelai home." The elder Lorelai stated firmly.

"It's Rory" A quiet voice said firmly. "Mom..." A tiny sob for a moment. "Everyone... They all call me Rory."

They had been the first words the girl had said, other than a murmured goodbye to her mother at her deathbed (On Lorelai's insistence and against her sons foolishly hopeful pleas it wouldn't be necessary), since the young girl had heard about the accident.

_Not a big step forward_. The elder Lorelai thought. _But hopefully it was a start_.

_**Rory**_

Mia had an old dog that hung around the Inn.

A golden retriever that didn't walk much and mostly just slept.

He was called Spot.

Rory liked the old dog though and Rory think Spot liked her too.

She had talked to Spot, hugged Spot, and on one memorable occasion, before Sookie had stopped her, shared lunch with Spot.

Spot was fun.

Then one day Spot wasn't there anymore. It was when she had just started kindergarten a few weeks ago and she had drawn a picture to show Spot when she came home. Lane had liked it a lot and Rory was excited to show Spot because she knew he'd love it too.

Only Spot wasn't there to see it.

That was when her Mom had sat her down and told her about "Death". Mom had explained that Spot was in heaven and she'd see him again one day, but not anytime soon, because you didn't come back from dying.

Ever.

Never ever.

Rory wasn't stupid.

Grandpa was crying, a lot, and she hadn't seen her Dad, or Grandma, since they'd driven away on Christmas day. Grandpa wouldn't say it to her directly but Rory knew.

Mom had looked super-duper sick in the hospital and when the old lady, Grandpa's mom who he called Trix, said to say goodbye to her Mom, Rory knew that her Mom was dying.

Rory had no idea what was going to happen to her.

Trix had been talking to the doctors and seemed to be bossing them around a bit.

Grandpa just looked sad. She and Grandpa had left the hospital shortly after the doctors came in when Trix had told him to take her home.

Where was home?

She hoped Grandpa wanted her.

Now they were in the car now driving back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The drive felt longer than the drive on the way there. Or the bus trip from Stars Hollow.

"What's going to happen now Grandpa?" Rory asked quietly.

"I'm not sure yet but Trix will know." Richard replied to his granddaughter with a confidence he didn't really feel.

"You're not going to send me away are you Grandpa." Rory asked panicked. Grandpa loved her. Rory knew that! But what if? What if…. He didn't love her enough to keep her!

She couldn't go back to the inn. Not now Mom wasn't working there anymore!

Mom wasn't there anymore…

Mom wasn't there anymore and she never would be again. Anywhere. Dad was never around a lot but she loved him as well. Even Grandma, who she only saw on Christmas and at Easter, was gone.

Rory started to cry then.

What was going to happen to her?

_**Richard**_

Rory wouldn't stop crying. Frankly Richard couldn't blame her.

His wife, his daughter, even the smiling scoundrel son of his former friend who got his daughter pregnant. All of them were dead.

Christopher and his Lorelai had both been twenty-two. They should have just been finishing university, maybe thinking about an engagement, at worst planning an elopement without parental permission. Instead they were dead.

Emily had been forty-eight. They'd just had their 25th wedding anniversary. Decades more of married life should have been ahead of them. Instead he'd ended up a widower even earlier than his mother had been made a widow.

He had tried comforting Rory and saying that of course he wouldn't send her away. There was a bedroom for her to stay in, the one she'd been sleeping in the past couple of days, it was hers forever if she'd like, and no one was ever going to send her anywhere she didn't want to go.

He never would, never could, send her away. Not this little girl. The last surviving bit of his own little girl and wife.

Rory had nodded and seemed to calm down on that front. There was no more fear of abandonment.

It was a small mercy.

The tears didn't stop however and Richard realised that, although he hadn't said the D word directly, his bright, intelligent, granddaughter had realised what had happened.

Richard wanted to punch any primped up child psychologist who said young children didn't fully understand the concept of death this early in life. Looking at his granddaughter, sobbing quietly in the back of the car, he knew that Rory certainly did.

He still had to break the news officially though.

They had finally arrived at the house. His home with Emily and his daughter.

Now without Emily for the first time he could ever remember.

Now without his daughter and not just temporarily, as Emily had still hoped, but forever.

Richard opened the back of the car and took his granddaughter out of the car seat. He remembered when Emily had bought the top of the range children's seat some time ago.

"One day, very soon Richard, she'll see sense!" Emily had said triumphantly (Rory had just turned four). "And when she does Rory will use this car seat and we'll all be a proper family again."

The car seat had seen its first use at the end of Christmas Day when the first call from the hospital came.

The family trips envisaged by Emily were unlikely from the start. Richard had known that in his heart at the time of the seats purchase (Though he never would have said so to Emily)

Those family trips were impossible now.

Richard and Rory walked up to the house and he opened the door.

Ten minutes later, and with cocoa in hand, they were sat in the lounge. Richard racked his brain on how to broach the topic he, so very much, dreaded. Even though he knew the little girl drinking cocoa while quietly crying was already aware.

"Rory do you know about Death?" Richard said gently.

"Yeah." Rory said through her tears. The tears stopped for a moment. A long moment. "Mommy told me about it." The little girl paused. "When Spot died."

"Spot?" Richard asked curious despite himself.

"Mia's dog" Rory said definitively. As though this explained things neatly as opposed to raising more questions.

"What did Mommy say?" Richard questioned softly.

"That Spot…" Rory sniffed loudly. "Spot was in heaven and I wouldn't see him again for a really, really, really, long time."

"Well Rory…" Richard began.

"They're dead. Grandma…Daddy…" Rory paused for what seemed like an eternity. "Mommy." She sobbed briefly "They're dead and they're not coming back." Rory continued eyes welling up with tears again. "Ever again."

"Never ever."

Floods of tears began falling more. Not just from Rory.

"I wish they could come back Rory. I really wish they could." Richard said as tears ran down his own cheeks. "But they can't".

Richard hugged his granddaughter closely and eventually the little girl cried herself asleep in his arms.

As he gently carried the sleeping kindergartner up to bed, he wondered himself what the future held for them.


	3. Chapter 2: The Wake

_**Chapter 2: The Wake**_

_**Trix**_

Lorelai had never liked Emily Gilmore. She supposed both she and her granddaughter had that in common. Rory never having had the chance to form the proper opinion (to dislike Emily).

Emily had lacked self-sufficiency to an absurd degree. She'd been conniving and domineering in the worst ways. She had at times been selfish.

Many, many times.

So Lorelai had taken great pleasure in messing with her mind for decades.

Put downs, comparisons with Pennilyn Lott, impossible demands.

Her true triumph however, had been the gift idea.

Dog sculptures, horrible table ornaments, awful furniture. She had sent the lot along with detailed notes on where to place such hideous items in the house.

It had been somewhat sadistic she'd admit.

The trip over ten years ago had been a memorable highlight. The twelve year old Lorelai Victoria Gilmore had made a comment within her hearing of why there was a new lamp when the old one worked fine.

The lamp had of course been a gift for Emily's 30th birthday.

Lorelai would have gladly given her granddaughter her trust right then if the twelve year old could have given her a photo of Emily's uncomfortable face right at that moment.

Emily looked like she was simultaneously severely constipated yet somehow about to have diarrhoea.

So cruel.

But so fun.

Now Emily was dead and Lorelai Beatrix Gilmore was at a complete loss.

Emily might have been a barely adequate wife at the best of times (seldom). Lorelai had never have warmed to her, would never have warmed to her, but her son had still loved her (unfortunately). Even Lorelai would admit that Emily had never lacked vitality, a small degree of wit, or ever looked at Richard with anything but love (depressingly as they'd likely never divorce despite how much Lorelai might have wished it).

Now Emily was a corpse.

At least she could bear to be in the same room as Emily's body. Years of mutual loathing making it far easier. She couldn't stand to be anywhere near the second Lorelai. Her first namesake. She'd avoid the situation fortunately till at least the wake tonight.

When it came to the funeral she was sure she'd be able to wax lyrical about her. She'd paint her Granddaughter as the strong independent young lady she'd been. Refusing all the wealth she'd been entitled to.

Better by far to draw attention to that aspect of her granddaughter. Rather than the other more heart-breaking issue.

How young she was.

Twenty-two was an age for college mishaps. Engagements. Participation in the Brigade if you were a Yale student with wealth, and/or a legacy, as her Granddaughter would have been.

Not death.

Not so young.

Lorelai had organised all the arrangements in the end.

Her son had been too emotionally fragile. Clinging to sanity only by virtue of having to assume a parental role for her Great-Granddaughter. The current quest being the reformation of salad as fit for human consumption for Rory after a successful indoctrination to the contrary by the second Lorelai.

They were fortunately making progress on that front.

So she had taken up the mantle, rather than her son, of the viewing and funeral arrangements instead.

Emily had planned meticulously what should occur. Lorelai was surprised to admit to herself that it was fairly well thought out.

By Emily standards of course.

More impressive, and far more surprising, was how detailed Lorelai Victoria Gilmore's plans had been.

Her Granddaughter had planned things down to the last note of music. The celebration not slightly sombre and prioritising fun. A wake had of course had been deemed essential. For a girl who seemed to run on an impulse the foreword thinking nature of the plan was staggering.

It had almost been an accident finding it though.

Lorelai had met with a Mrs Mia Bass on the 28th, at The Independence Inn in Stars Hollow, to explain the absence of her Granddaughter and Great Granddaughter when they had been expected back just before 11pm on Christmas Day.

Tears had run down The Independence Inn's owner's face, when she heard the news, but the woman explained that after learning of the crash on Boxing Day she had already suspected the worst may have occurred.

The woman's relief that Rory was uninjured, and not even involved in the crash, was palpable.

As was the woman's grief at the second Lorelai's passing.

The two had talked for some time. The grit and hard work that her Granddaughter had showed, over the past half a decade or so at the inn, the prominent subject of conversation. In the New Year Mia had planned on having the second Lorelai take on some of the desk duties as a sort of concierge.

She would have done quite well Mia had thought.

Her granddaughter had made some friends at the Inn. Particularly a young chef working her way up through the Inn's kitchen named Sookie St James.

Tears had come again from that particular young woman, close to her granddaughter in age, and through the tears, the elder Lorelai heard the plans.

Her Granddaughter had possessed ambitions.

Plans to rent an apartment, buy a house, go to night school, and finally own an inn herself.

Her granddaughter had been thinking years, perhaps decades, ahead on what she'd do with her life.

It all meant nothing now.

Lorelai had been shocked when she had seen the shed. To go from wealth and privilege to this took sacrifice that even she, who had lived through the great depression as a teenager, found surprising.

There was a small cot bed next to a bigger normal bed (still small). A bathtub with a curtain around it. Pictures and young children's books that were dog eared. It was poverty that had somehow been made comfortable enough to mask what it truly was.

Emily would have had a heart attack if she'd ever seen it.

Lorelai had chuckled to herself slightly. She was made of sterner stuff than her daughter in law (May she rest in peace). This was independence wrought large. Screams into the aether that Lorelai Victoria Gilmore would not play by the rules and be shackled to a life planned out by others.

A young man from the town had been summoned by Mia to help pack as much away as possible. His lack of obeisance made a pleasant change.

"Do you have any idea what stuff you need from here?" The young man had said to the dour women, who was standing in the homeliest looking potting shed he had ever seen.

"I'd imagine anything that seems like it could have sentimental value would be needed." Lorelai had replied. "Which I suspect is most of the things here but the bath and perhaps the bed."

"Makes sense" The young man had grumbled back.

"You will be paid for your time incidentally Mr…" Lorelai had questioned her normally excellent memory drawing a blank. Grief was irritating like that. "I'm sorry but your name escapes me"

"Danes Ma'am. Luke Danes." The young man had grumbled back. Rightfully, Lorelai thought, a bit put out at having his name already forgotten. "What happened here anyway?"

"There was a crash on Christmas Day. One of the previous occupants has passed away. The other will no longer be living here." Lorelai replied as an explanation.

"I hadn't heard." Luke replied. Seeing a photo of a little girl and a young woman smiling Luke felt a pit of something awful in his stomach. "The little girl… Is she?"

"The little girl is fine. Her Mother was not." Lorelai replied.

The two had continued in silence at that point.

Lorelai had almost gasped when she had found the surprise.

In a shoebox, carefully hidden, was a significant amount of cash. Ten's and twenty's meticulously folded and stored. Carefully saved away for future plans.

In the same box were a number of documents.

A plan for funeral arrangements.

A ledger detailing a variety of different information, its final notes regarding a meeting on the 6th about possibly renting a cheap apartment.

And a Will.

Lorelai quickly glanced at the last document. The law firm was a small one in Hartford that she knew well. Caspar McCrae was the black sheep of an influential legal family and at least ninety. He never succeeded at law quite as well as other McCrae's did.

His heart had been too big.

Lorelai guessed the old man had done it out of pity for her Granddaughter. Probably charging her the minimum he possibly could (or the minimum that the second Lorelai's pride would allow). He'd long distanced himself from high society and this sort of work was exactly what he'd do.

The document contained no surprises.

Everything Lorelai Victoria Gilmore had was left to her daughter.

Custody of Rory had been surprising only in that it showed the younger Lorelai had not completely abandoned her family.

Emily and Richard Gilmore were to have sole custody with visitation rights, at their discretion, for Christopher Hayden.

Satisfied, at what she had read, the packing away had continued. The young Luke Danes proving to be blunt, in his way, but also tolerable company once they began talking.

He was soon to open a Diner apparently.

Not Lorelai's sort of place at all but at least it showed some initiative. The pursuit of a realistic dream was a noble goal for anyone. Especially as the young man also hoped to honour his father's legacy by utilising the space the older man's hardware shop had been.

Lorelai was brought back from her musings on Star's Hollow by a polite cough behind her.

"The first of the mourners for the viewing is here Mrs Gilmore." The Funeral home director said politely.

"Thank you Mr Moore." Lorelai replied. "Once more unto the breach" she muttered to herself before preparing to face the vultures that were soon to come in.

_**Rory **_

Mom had been wrong (Rory had decided) about salad.

She bit into the delicious food once again that was being served at the table.

The fourth time she'd tried in four days.

It had been Trix who had been horrified to hear about the lack of green things (that weren't candy) in Rory's diet.

"Richard. This cannot be allowed to continue." Trix had said aghast on New Year's Eve as they had been served a starter that Trix had called "Salad de Cherve Chaud" which Rory had been very reluctant to eat.

"Salad is evil" Mom had said.

"Mom said salad is evil." Rory said.

Her Grandpa had snorted at that before Trix had done a "Mom Look" at him.

"Iceberg lettuce is evil. That is what is served constantly in this country. Rocket lettuce on the other hand tastes delicious and is not a bit evil in the least." Trix had said.

Rory had tried the new salad then. It did look different after all.

Trix had been right.

The goat's cheese had tasted wonderful but what Rory really liked was the salad. It tasted kind of spicy and not evil at all.

Rory still didn't like vegetables much. (Grandpa had said he wasn't a big fan either) But maybe Mom hadn't been right that all fruits and vegetables were evil.

As she ate more salad (this time with bacon bits!) she thought that even if all other fruits and vegetable did turn out to be evil she should at least try them.

Right?

_**Richard **_

Richard watched as the young woman bustled around the kitchen shouting orders with relish.

It was chaos.

By rights he should have been angry but somehow he wasn't.

For the first time in over a week his granddaughter was giggling and smiling while talking to her friend Lane. She seemed truly happy for once and so far today there had been no tears.

Sookie St James seemed to cheer up Rory immensely. Emily's viewing, earlier that day, had been a dour affair in comparison to this event, full of long faces, false social graces, and people Richard normally avoided if he could.

Richard had despised it. He'd never enjoyed the prelude to funerals, or funerals themselves. Many prominent faces in their social set had turned up however.

Mitchum Huntzberger, Floyd Stiles, Hanlin Charleston. Many others on a long long list.

Cousin Marilyn was here. Far more sombre than he'd ever seen her before.

The Hayden's were notably absent. There had been no communication from either Straub or Francine since Richard had phoned them about the accident.

Richard had hated seeing Emily in death. It had been a ghastly experience that he didn't want to repeat.

All the life had left her. The body on display not his wife in any real sense of the word.

He had however, been surprised at the kindness some people had shown. Hanlin had said to put Rory's name down for Chilton immediately and he'd make sure that everything went smoothly so as to have her in the first grade class next year. Mitchum had offered the most sincere condolences he'd heard all evening. Floyd Stiles had been the biggest surprise, more emotive than Richard had ever seen him in over twenty years of knowing each other. Floyd had also been completely honest with him.

"Everyone is completely terrified Richard." Floyd had confessed as many mourners had started to drip away.

"Terrified?" Richard had questioned.

"Terrified" Floyd had confirmed. "From a single accident two heirs to prominent families died, as did one of the pillars of the social set, and everyone realises the, but for the grace of God, it could have been their family in another circumstance. It could have been my Jason who had been hit that night…"

Richard had almost gasped to hear Floyd speak about his son with any significant care.

"He was driving along roads nearby half an hour before it happened. Nearly everyone here has an example of something similar Richard."

Floyd sighed.

"Many people in our set are awful people Richard." Floyd glanced over at Shira Huntzberger subtly for a moment. Richard nodded briefly in agreement drawing a, shockingly small, chuckle from Floyd that was still something unheard of. "But you'd be hard pressed to find any who are heartless enough not to find what happened tragic. The whole situation has been a wakeup call."

"Mitchum had stopped his "Business Trip" to France because he's now spending time with his actual wife as opposed to his latest dalliance. Hanlin has actually been exercising as opposed to just playing golf every second weekend. I think this is the first time I've ever seen your cousin not tell stories at a viewing. I think the realisation that there are only four living Gilmores, of any significant connection to the main branch, alive has hit her hard."

"What's you point Floyd?" Richard asked.

"My point Richard…My point Richard is that this all mattered. Carol was friends with Emily, Bitty Charleston was friends with Emily, half the DAR was friends with Emily. For once at one of these events people are genuinely upset. Illness acceptable, old age expected, but something like this? It doesn't happen."

Richard agreed with that it didn't happen among their set.

It shouldn't have happened now.

"Your granddaughter is she doing ok." Floyd asked.

Richard tried but couldn't answer. Floyd looked at him sympathetically before glancing across the room at a young man in casual conversation with one of the other mourners.

"I'm going to go speak with my son. I need to do more to mend fences with him and it's been far too long since we talked properly. Even if he is at the company. I'm sorry for your losses Richard. Truly I am." Before Floyd walked off he paused and said one last thing to Richard.

"In light of all that's happened take as much time as you need. The firm can cope for a while."

Richard had been unsure what to think at the end of the conversation. Floyd had been unusually blunt about how the deaths had affected the social set they both moved in. As well as unusually kind to him. "The Accident" had clearly changed things.

If something good, anything good, could some out of his family's deaths then Richard would take it though.

Richard heard a pot crash on the floor and young girls' laughter. The laughter quickly left the room as two kindergartners ran off. He was instantly brought back to the here and now.

Richard decided to enter the main room of the party and enjoy the chaos.

His daughter had decided that she'd go out with a bang at her wake. Lorelai's coffin had been brought from the home and now took pride of place in the dining room.

On the dining room table.

His mother had been aghast at the idea, so had Richard in fact, Rory had laughed a lot when told.

It had been the first proper laugh since her mother's death nearly a week prior.

Eventually all three of them had been laughing at the dining room table wake.

His daughter had aimed to ensure that there would be no sadness if it could be avoided at her wake.

Colourful clothes- Mandatory

Pets – Welcome

Karaoke- Present

Alcohol consumption- Heavily Encouraged

A free taxi service home for guests- Hired on their own initiative to ensure no other accidents would befall anyone.

The people at the wake were an eclectic bunch. An austere Korean lady eyed the room critically, a sarcastic harp player played beautifully, a reverend and a rabbi of all things were in conversation near the punch (mixed strongly by his mother's order on his daughter's clear instruction). Perhaps oddest of all Jason "Digger" Stiles of all people seemed to have gotten into full swing with the madness and was currently leading a rousing chorus of Auld Lang Syne as the final canapés made their way out.

There was not a society member over the age of twenty-four in sight, bar the three older family members (Cousin Marilyn had resumed to a degree her usual self after the first of Sookie's canapes was consumed). Many of the "society" guests though were the more rebellious society heirs, or ones with fractious relationships with their parents, or had both qualities in abundance. His daughter may not have been in touch with most, if any, since Rory was born but had still thought to invite them to this on the guest list she'd written.

In the spirit of annoying Emily no doubt. It was all done in that spirit. Richard mused for a moment. Richard doubted that his daughter would have thought her own parents were still alive before utilising their house in this way.

Despite the plan Richard thought his daughter would have never seen herself dying this young… Especially not after Rory's birth occurred.

She had too much to live for then.

According to Trix very few changes had been made to the wake and funeral plan since his daughter had been sixteen (bar the expansion of the guest list to include new friend's she'd made, her friend Sookie to do the catering, and the Star's Hollow Reverend to lead the service with its Rabbi of all people.)

Richard took another delicious canape (Sookie was an excellent chef) as he watched his granddaughter, and her friend Lane, as they giggled at the sight of Cousin Marilyn beginning a performance of Molly Malone on the piano with his mother of all people leading the singing.

Trix seemed to be enjoying the atmosphere despite herself.

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

Richard was fairly surprised.

At this point any guests would have missed most of the party and turning up this late was the height of social impropriety.

As he was reasonably close to the door he opened it before the maid had a chance. What he saw caused him to gasp.

"God Richard I need help." Straub Hayden said desperately, looking more dirty and dishevelled than Richard had ever seen him before. Even after the chaos of Lorelai's pregnancy announcement the man had never looked anything but completely composed, even when enraged.

"Straub?" Richard asked baffled. "What…?

"It's Francine…" Straub replied distraught "She's gone missing."

* * *

_Hope everyone is enjoying the story so far. In case the multiple Lorelai thing is a tad confusing at the moment it won't be for much longer. As we deal with the deaths from the accident mentions of Lorelai 2 are likely going to decrease as the distance from the event gets further and further away. Rory is going to be referred to almost entirely as Rory and the main character referred to in this story as Lorelai is going to Trix. (Her pov normally referring to herself as Lorelai and most others referring to her as Lorelai as as well bar Rory and Richard) I'm glad people are enjoying the story so far and I hope everyone enjoys how the characters are going to change. Remember that the Rory of the show is as much a product of her environment as anything else and at this stage of her life, her personality is going to be highly informed by any changes to her circumstances and outside influences of the new family in her life. _

_Also Cliff-hanger. Dun Dun Dun. _


	4. Chapter 3: Missing

_**Chapter 3: Missing**_

_**Trix**_

Lorelai hadn't hosted a party in Hartford for more than a decade and only very occasionally during her time in London.

It was remarkable therefore, that she had managed to completely obscure the appearance of Straub Hayden at the party, as well as the prompt disappearance from the wake of both her son and Straub into Richard's office.

Hardly anyone had noticed as she bade farewell to the party goers at the stroke of midnight. Sookie helping by virtue of having put young Rory to bed just after 10:30. The energy of youth enabling the physical feat of staying awake for far longer than she should have to be Rory's crowning achievement of the night.

Only three guests remained outside of family the servers having departed shortly after the last of canapes went out. They were:

Sookie St James.

Mia Bass

And Jason Stiles.

The former two had remained because they were staying at the Gilmore House that night. As for Jason Stiles…

"Not much point in me leaving when they're going to need my help" Jason had said smugly.

Despite his previous out of character singing Jason Stiles was possibly one of the most stone cold sober people there by the end of the party. That in itself was odd.

It was almost as though he had known something was coming.

Or someone.

Saying polite goodnights to Mia who went upstairs to bed looking exhausted, and Sookie who was proceeding in cleaning the kitchen, Lorelai led Jason Stiles to Richards's office, the door having been closed tightly shut for just over ninety minutes.

"So we've ruled out the last of Francine and Emily's old haunts now?" Richard said to a stressed out Straub, as the former placed his phone down.

"Yes. I've checked the hospitals earlier." Straub replied.

"Straub, you and Francine weren't at the viewing for Emily." Lorelai cut in.

"Mother there's an explanation-" Richard attempted to say.

"What explanation?" Lorelai said furiously. "He didn't visit the bedside of the dying mother of his only grandchild. The mother of the only heir that his branch of the Hayden's now has. Quite a legacy to leave Straub isn't it? A complete lack of contact with the only surviving remnant of your son. You should be proud of yourself. I'm sure you father would be. Crass as it is I think I'm well within my rights to call you an ass."

Richard was in shock at her language.

Jason Stiles was in shock.

And Straub Hayden, a grown man of nearly fifty, looked on the verge of losing his composure combined with hideous amounts of guilt.

"I didn't know about Lorelai." Straub muttered. "Francine didn't tell me. She told me about Christopher and Emily but she didn't tell me that Lorelai had been so badly injured."

Lorelai was bemused at that. It made no sense at all. "Why did she not tell you?" She pressed.

"Francine has been somewhere else mentally since she heard about Christopher." Straub admitted. "She's jumped from hysteria, to despair, and back again in the blink of an eye. She hasn't been thinking straight. On New Year's Day morning she locked herself in her room with a full bottle of Glenfiddich, and a large packet of tortilla chips she had the maid buy, and didn't come out again till 10pm. The previously full bottle was empty by then." Straub explained having fully composed himself once more. Any potential break having been averted.

"It's been left to me to do the funeral arrangements for Christopher. It was only when you released the death notice that I even learned Lorelai had been badly injured."

Lorelai was shocked at this news although Richard seemed fairly unsurprised, having heard all this when Straub first entered presumably.

"We argued yesterday morning after she tried to pull the same trick with the whiskey again but I'd locked away all the scotch, all the wine bottles in the cellar were corkscrewed, and I hid the corkscrew carefully along with any other spirits in the house. Francine told me she hated me and said I didn't care our son was dead. Then she stormed back into her room and locked herself in again." Straub recounted. "At which point I left her to it."

"I came down this morning to find the cupboard I'd left the scotch broken into and emptied completely, the car keys for the convertible gone (along with the car), and a significant amount of Francine's clothes missing along with a large suitcase."

"She's run away?" Lorelai gasped.

"I would say that, as successfully as she was able to as well, especially as the car was found earlier today in a ditch near New York. The car had been driven by a bunch of teenagers apparently who had been paid $200 by, in their own eloquent words, "Some rich lady" to take it away and have fun with it." Straub explained.

"We've had no luck tracing her so far, we've checked the usual Hartford haunts, most of her and Emily's friends in the DAR, the police stations, and finally the hospitals all with no luck." Richard explained.

"I'm scared for Francine. Christopher was our only child and she was always closer to him than I was. I don't want her to hurt herself or…" Straub faltered.

Lorelai knew what the man was getting at. Although personally she felt the outlook on that front didn't seem all that good.

Jason Stiles was about to say something before suddenly the sound of loud crying could be heard from the main living room.

Richard paled before quickly exiting the room.

Lorelai sighed sadly.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked.

"Rory's had the nightmare again." Lorelai said simply.

_**Rory **_

Rory wasn't used to sleeping on her own.

All her life it had been her and Mom when she went to sleep.

Whenever she went to sleep her Mom was always there to read her a story, or tell her to brush her teeth when she forgot, or there to just talk about her day.

She'd had a nightmare after Spot died and her mom was there to give her a hug and tell her it was ok.

Rory had been really sleepy near the end of the party and Sookie had helped take her upstairs to get her pyjamas on so she could get to bed.

Rory dreamed about Christmas again that night.

It was always the same.

She and Mom would arrive off the bus from Stars Hollow and Mom would make a funny joke about Grandma and Rory would laugh.

Then the door would open and Grandma was there. Grandma would give her a hug and say how big she was getting.

She'd walk into the main room and Grandpa would smile and give her an even bigger hug.

It all started so well.

Then the doorbell would ring again and the dream got better.

Grandma would come back into the room and DADDY was there.

"How are you Kiddo?" Daddy would say.

She'd go and give him a big hug and Rory knew that today was going to be the best Christmas ever.

It was after the hug that the dream went bad. Really bad.

"What scheme are you trying to pull Mom?" Mommy would say to Grandma. Although Rory didn't know what scheme meant she got the feeling it was a bad thing.

"Christopher was in town and you were already coming here. So I felt it was the right thing to do to have him come over for Rory's presents being opened. Dinner as well." Grandma would say back.

"I can't believe this mom." Mom replied back. "Actually of you? Yeah maybe I can believe it."

"Come on Lor, its fine let's just have dinner. It's Christmas." Daddy would say to Mommy nicely.

Mommy wasn't nice back.

"Chris, you're just going to go along with her bullsh-" Mommy had stopped speaking and looked at her then. She had probably been going to say a bad word Rory thought. "Dad I'm not sure if you knew about this crazy plan but I just need to get outside for a minute. Please watch Rory. I just can't deal with this..."

Mom and Grandma had both been getting really mad by that point.

"I can't believe you Mom. Are you trying to ruin Christmas." Mom had said to Grandma as Mom had walked out of the room.

"Ruin Christmas? I'm trying to save Christmas! Rory should have both her parents in her life… Don't walk away when I'm speaking to you Lorelai!" Grandma had said following mom.

"Did I do something wrong?" Rory had asked har Daddy and Grandpa.

Daddy and Grandpa had given looks at each other then. Rory didn't understand what about.

"Christopher if you could make sure they don't kill each other." Grandpa had said.

"We'll be right back Richard" Daddy had said. Then he had come forward and given her another hug.

"Don't worry kiddo. We'll only be a sec." Daddy had said before winking at her.

She had giggled then because Daddy was funny.

Grandpa had given her a present then, a secret one just from him he said, and she'd just started to open it when she heard the front door slam. She and Grandpa had walked to the front window and that's when a few seconds later she saw the car driving off.

"Everything's going to be fine Rory. They'll be back before you know it" Grandpa had said nicely.

That was the point when Rory would always wake up.

The first night she'd had the nightmare, or remembered (Rory didn't know which was right), she'd woken up scared. It was her first night sleeping over at Grandpa's house.

The room wasn't the shed at the Inn and the bed was too big. She'd only been crying a moment before Grandpa had appeared and given her a hug. They'd slept in his and Grandma's bedroom that night.

It had happened four times since. Each time after the first night she'd crept along and knocked on Grandpa's door.

Now it had happened again.

This time there was no answer when she knocked and when she opened the door no Grandpa. Rory had run downstairs then but there was no one left in the main room.

They'd all left her.

That's when she started to cry.

_**Richard **_

Rory was absolutely pale as she stood crying in the middle of the main living room.

Quickly Richard wrapped her up in a hug and the tears quickly quietened to sobs.

"You're still here. You didn't leave me." The little girl sniffled. "I was worried I'd done something wrong again."

"You've done nothing wrong Rory. Not then and not now. Someone got lost and I'm helping to look for them. You've done nothing wrong." Richard comforted.

This seemed to settle the girl a bit although she was still wide awake from the nightmare.

"Who's he Grandpa?" Rory whispered loudly looking at Straub. Who did admittedly look fairly out of place with how dishevelled he still was.

Straub seemed to go very pale. Richard decided that now was perhaps the worst possible time to introduce her other Grandfather into Rory's life properly.

"That's Straub. His wife is the one who got lost." Richard replied.

Straub smiled thinly at him, gratefully, but subtly.

Richard nodded slightly back in turn.

"Good luck finding your wife Mr Straub." Rory said kindly.

"Thank you Lo-Rory." Straub replied hesitantly. Almost forgetting Rory's usual moniker.

"No need to worry Rory we'll find Francine." Jason Stiles said smiling. No need for introductions there as most of the guests had said hello to Rory at some point during the party.

"Now Rory I may need to leave tonight to help find Francine." Richard gently suggested.

Rory looked as though she was about to say something before a voice gently cut in before she had the chance.

"And I will be here in case you have any trouble sleeping." Trix said comfortingly in a tone Richard remembered from forty or more years in the past, when he had been a young child himself.

Oddly enough this seemed to work, somewhat, in alleviating Rory's concerns.

"Now Rory would you like to go up to bed. If you want we can read a story. I have a very special book I used to read to your Grandpa when he was your age" Trix said kindly.

The oldest Gilmore and youngest Gilmore quickly moved back upstairs and only Straub, Richard and Jason Stiles were left.

"Why are you still here Digger?" Richard asked bluntly to Jason Stiles.

"Well my father's been acting unusually affectionate, unnervingly so in fact, the past week, which is one good reason, the punch was really great, which is another good reason, your canapes were excellent, and I personally think you should hire the chef before I have the chance to, which is another go-" Jason continued on.

"Cut the crap Jason this is serious." Richard said his anger rising.

Jason put up his hand in a gesture of peace.

"I know where Francine is. That's why I stayed. I know where she is."

"Where?" Straub said anxiously. "We've looked everywhere in the state."

"She's not in the state. She's not anywhere in New England in fact. At least not on the mainland." Jason confirmed.

Richard realised what Jason Stiles was inferring. He couldn't believe they hadn't thought of it sooner. Moments later Straub, realising the inference, caught on as well.

"She's on Nantucket." Jason confirmed.

* * *

_Hello there Vesine here_

_I am shocked at how many people seem to be enjoying this story at the moment. It's been a ball writing out this AU so far. As an early warning if you are looking for Finn and Logan (as tags suggest) the former will appear in the short to mid-term while the other will appear much longer term. (While there may be some romance later in the story it is not in any way a key focus of the bulk of this story and Finn WILL NOT be a love interest but will be a key character) As has been inferred last chapter the results of the accident will have a significant effect on a lot of people outside of the key Gilmores. A butterfly flaps its wings etc. _

_If anyone seems a bit ooc atm just remember that the exposure to a number of characters in Gilmore girls that are utilised here quite heavily is very limited in the show proper and the deaths of the three characters in "The Accident" change the ball game of how those characters (and others) eventually end up. If Richard hasn't broken down as he did when his mother died in the series, the fact is that in this case he hasn't allowed himself to grieve properly yet with his traumatised granddaughter added into the mix. While you might have hated series Trix, Straub, and Francine (among other) and quite rightly so they are unlikely to remain the same people they were by the time we saw them in Gilmore girls the series proper. And what happens and why they change will be a key point in several of the next few chapters. _

_As for any other characters expect to see many of the characters from the regular Gilmore girls pop up here and there. I'm trying my best not to forget any key minor Gilmore family characters but this is difficult without meticulously watching every episode all the way through as the some are only mentioned in casual lines of dialogue. _

_Cousin Marilyn incidentally is Charles's younger twin brother's daughter. Oddly enough both she and her more distant cousin (Lorelai the 1__st__) both heavily resemble a mutual ancestor. _

_If there are any flaws on the minor character front you notice please feel free to pm me and I can confirm whether they have been forgotten or have just yet to be introduced. _


	5. Chapter 4: Wonderland

_**Chapter 4: Wonderland**_

_**Trix**_

Lorelai remembered her dying.

Tuberculosis is not a clean or pleasant way to go. Highly infectious and thoroughly vile it was a horrifically awful way to die.

Mary had died quickly. Only four years old when the tuberculosis had turned active, her little sister had fought for only a few months before the disease had taken her.

Mother had been a different case.

She'd struggled on for three years after an official diagnosis. Lung's rotting away slowly. Never particularly affectionate physically. It wasn't what her generation did anyhow but the real reason, Lorelai knew, was because her Mother had been too frail and too cautious of passing the disease on for that. .

Her very last few weeks her Mother had been depressed, and withdrawn. She had known the end was near.

Except for that last day.

Just over a decade later, when she had just begun courting Charles, they spent almost the entire year going to whatever performances they could at The Metropolitan Opera House.

Most popular music (especially now) may have been frivolous to a degree (not Kay Kyser!) but she would never level such an accusation at classical music or her true passion of the Opera.

In London she attended every performance she could at The Royal Opera House. Tickets far cheaper there than in New York. There was only one opera she couldn't stand to watch year by year. No matter how often it was in repertory.

Not after that first time seeing it with Charles.

_La Traviata_

The music had been beautiful and Lorelai had watched as the disease had progressed for the main character. Thankful she had been bothered to learn Italian Lorelai was especially glad to understand every word being sung.

The portrayal of the Tuberculosis had been so unrealistic that part of Lorelai had wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

Then right at the very end of the opera the character had seemingly revived, speaking of feeling better, it was a romanticised version of something awful.

Lorelai had almost been sick. She and Charles escaping the opera house long before final bows had been finished.

The Opera had been too close for comfort for her. Too similar.

The reality had been very different to the death of the tragic Violetta of course. .

Mother nearly pale as a corpse, certainly nearly as thin as one anyway, had summoned her in. The flowery scent of the camellias in the room doing little to cover the underlying stench of blood and sweat. The private Doctor ensured that Lorelai, only nine years old at the time, didn't get too close.

"Lorelai" Mother has barely been able to breathe. "I feel better today." Mothers face alight with a smile that contrasted massively with the deathly pallor of her skin.

As Mother coughed bloodily, Lorelai had remained quiet on the point.

Without warning Mother has begun fishing in her bedside draw looking for something. Quickly she found it grasping with fingers atrophied with illness. The object was a key.

"I have a gift for you." Mother had wheezed. "It's very precious… A secret." She had breathed conspiratorially.

Lorelai had just nodded.

"This key is for the drawer in my study. Your gift is inside." Mother had concluded, nearly gasping for breath after every word, but forcing them out regardless.

"Mrs Gilmore-" The doctor had started to chastise. The physical exertion mother was attempting worrying the physician hugely.

"Oh be quiet I'm going to be fi-" Then the bloody coughing had begun once again in earnest and Lorelai had been quickly ushered out of the room.

Forty minutes after that Mother fell into a coma. Much like Lorelai's granddaughter she never woke up again.

It was over a week later, the funeral just over, when Lorelai finally managed to use the key in mothers study.

The drawer was empty except for a very well cared for copy of a book.

She remembered her reaction of the time very well.

What was so special to Mother about a copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?

_**Rory **_

Both Rory and Trix were in the latter's guest bedroom.

Rory watched as Trix quickly went to her bedside drawer and took out an old book.

"What's that?" Rory asked intrigued.

"That is the most important thing I own." Trix replied honestly.

"Why?" Rory asked again.

"When I was a little girl my mother gave it to me, it was given to her by her mother, who was given it to her by her father." Trix paused. "It's also the last gift she ever gave to me before she died. I was nine."

That shocked Rory. Trix was just like her. No Mommy when she was a little girl.

"Did she have an accident?" Rory asked. "Like my Mommy did?"

"No Rory, she was very sick for a long time." Trix replied. "It started to get bad when I was six like you."

Both Gilmores in the room were silent for a long time.

During the silence Rory thought hard about what the last gift Mommy had got her was. It might have been a new cuddly toy to be friends with Colonel Clucker. Rory wasn't sure though. She didn't remember a lot about Christmas except when they got to Grandpa and Grandma's house. She remembered far too well then. Rory peered closer at the book.

"It looks old." Rory noticed.

"It is old. Very old." Trix smiled "This year it will turn one hundred and twenty six years old."

"Whoa" Rory said. Her eye filled with awe at the book. "That is really old!"

"Indeed. This book is older than The Eiffel Tower, The Statue of Liberty, and fourteen American states." Trix said proudly.

"So it's really, really, really old." Rory replied.

"Yes" Trix replied looking like she might laugh a little. "Really, really, really, really old."

Which was of course very old indeed.

"Are we going to read it?" Rory asked excitedly.

"Yes Rory we are." Trix replied.

They made their way quickly back to Rory's room. Rory wondered if it was weird she was starting to think of it as HER room now. But she supposed it didn't really matter.

Rory got snuggled back into bed and then Trix began reading.

Trix was a great storyteller.

Too quickly Trix finished the first chapter (helping on any words Rory didn't recognise) and Rory wished the story could go on.

But she was also very sleepy again.

And very soon Rory Gilmore was dreaming of Rabbits with pocket watches, magical cakes, and secret gardens.

_**Richard **_

"Well gentleman I'd say it's been a pleasure but that would be a bit of an exaggeration." Jason Stiles said as they arrived at the house in Nantucket where Francine was.

Both older men snorted at the comment.

"Jason. Both Straub and I owe you our thanks. Not just for finding Francine." Richard Gilmore said. "How you managed to wrangle that flight here…

Jason Stiles merely shrugged as the doorbell rang.

A blonde woman in her very early twenties answered the door and gave Jason a big smile.

"Digger you made it." The blonde exclaimed in a voice whose volume indicated a somewhat diminished level of sobriety.

Richard looked more closely at the girl before realising quickly who she might be. She had been in Lorelai's class and he'd seen her, on more than one occasion, at company events over the years.

"Mitzi Hollerman?" he asked.

The girl's happy expression diminished hugely on sensing the presence of the two older men.

"Oh Crap" The girl muttered to herself, very, very, loudly.

"Mr Gilmore? What are you doing here? Isn't Lorelai's funeral tomorrow?" Mitzi Hollerman said in greeting. .

"Mitz that's a four on the scale." Jason said casually.

"He works with my Dad Jason. Are you insane bringing him here?" Mitzi whispered loudly back.

"Mitz he can still hear you." Jason deadpanned.

Mitzi looked very embarrassed for a moment before quickly disappearing back into the house.

"Lars's girl right Richard." Straub said.

"Yes that's right." Richard replied

"She's quite rude. Because of the drink I assume?" Straub asked.

"If only" Jason smirked. "She's "Working on it" apparently."

"Anyway from what Mitzi explained to me, on the phone, this party's been ongoing since about 11am give or take a half hour. Than it itself is impressive all things considering its now 3:30am. Francine is apparently still leading the festivities, though how she's still sober I couldn't tell you." Jason explained.

"Straub I wish you the best of luck and Richard I'll see you at the office eventually I guess." Jason Stiles said before making his way over to Mitzi once again.

"Strange boy that Jason is." Straub commented.

"Effective though. Good networking anyway." Richard countered.

Straub snorted. "Yes, I'd never say he's a poor networker after tonight."

They entered the house.

It wasn't quite a bacchanalian revelry inside but it was clearly on the way there.

Plastic cups smelling strongly of spirits with mixer, and without, covered every surface. A pungent stench that nobody who grew up in the Sixties could forget filled the air. Boys and girls with looks of lust in their eyes were kissing or disappearing to more private spaces within the large house.

"We've fallen down the damned rabbit hole." Richard muttered to himself.

"Let's go find the white rabbit then" Straub said overhearing him.

"And the winner for best all-rounder is Grace Huntzberger." An older female voice echoed from the main living room of the house.

Both Straub and Richard recognised it.

Applause rang out from the room as a younger female voice rang out.

"For this award I'd like to thank my father who proved that even though he has three older children, than me, he still sucks phenomenally as a parent. I'd like to thank my mother for sending me to private school when I caught her with the gardener, twice. I'd like to thank my older brother for being a pretentious, asshole, workaholic man whore. I'd like to thank my sister in law for being a stuck up piece of slutty trailer tra-"

"Mother always said Elias had a knack when it came to family" Richard commented, tuning out the rest of the speech, as they made their way into the room.

"Indeed" Straub snorted once again.

A young man bumped into them, nearly spilling his drink, before hugging Straub first and then Richard second.

"You two don't have any drinks" The young man wagged his finger. "That's against the rules! I'll soon fix that though." The young man swiped two full cups of something off a nearby table. He sniffed both cups then looked at Richard and Straub again. He nodded to himself one last time, as if congratulating himself on a job well done, before handing them the drinks.

"Here you go. Enjoy! I'm certain it's your sort of drink." The young man said cheerfully, ensuring both cups were firmly in their hands before happily ambling off.

Stunned, both men looked at the drinks in their hands. Richard smelled the concoction in his hand.

"Is that Macallan." He asked Straub.

Straub sniffed his own cup. "Yes I think it is."

"It's mixed with Coca Cola." Richard replied conversationally.

"Yes it is." Straub agreed pleasantly.

They both took a large gulp before continuing their movement forward.

They quickly found who they were looking for.

Like a conductor, at the front of a large ensemble of musicians, was Francine Hayden orchestrating events.

Her eyes' were either manic or drunk, quite probably both. Her dress was looking rather dishevelled, and her hair looked like it hadn't been brushed, or washed, for a week.

Francine Hayden looked insane. As mad as the proverbial hatter.

She caught sight of them almost instantly. Wavering eyes suddenly sharpening with focus.

"I'm sorry ladies and gentleman but the authorities have arrived." Francine announced.

"Fuck! The cops?" A voice said.

"They don't look like cops?" Another added.

"Plain clothes maybe?" One more suggested.

"Worse than the cops my friends. It's my husband and my Not in Law." Francine said taking a heavy gulp of a drink that looked like a triple Macallan. Neat.

"Francine woul-" Straub began to say.

"Shut up Straub." Francine said forcefully "I've done what you've told me for the best part of thirty years. But. You. Are. Not. The. Boss. Of. Me. I'm guessing you and Dicky want to talk. Fine. Come outside and talk. But it's because I'm letting you. Do you understand? It is not, and will never again be, just because you want me to."

"We understand Francine." Richard cut in. Straub oddly enough remained composed. It was unusual for a man normally quick to anger in this sort of situation.

Francine got up from her seat, swaying slightly, before leading the other two men outside.

Outside on the veranda the air was crisp and clear, as cold as a January night on Nantucket could be.

"Franny I was worried about you." Straub said. "When I heard about the car I thought you might have…

"Died? Killed myself?" Francine said. "I wish I was. I probably should have. I want to be dead." Francine paused for a moment before breaking down completely. Tears pouring like waterfalls from her cheeks.

"Christopher is dead Straub" She cried.

"I know" Straub replied.

"Emily is dead." Francine continued, tears still flowing.

"I know" Straub once again replied.

"And Lorelai…God Lorelai is dead as well." Francine said, no longer as upset, instead her voice was layered with guilt.

"We know that Francine, everyone knows that by now." Richard said as kindly as he could to Francine.

"Don't comfort me like you like me Richard. You shouldn't like me. You should hate me!" Francine replied back bitterly.

"Why would I hate you Francine?" Richard questioned.

"Because I… I…" Francine tried to speak. Eventually she managed a whisper both men barely heard.

"I was the one who killed them."

"Nonsense Francine! How could you say such a thing?" Straub said his usual angry response to situations beginning to rear its head.

The reaction stopped abruptly at Francine's next words.

"Because I called Emily on the 23rd. You were caught up with all that crap with McRae and I realised I could fix the problem with Christopher. I could fix everything!" Francine whispered frantic.

"I called Emily and we planned the whole thing out. If Rory had a happy family Christmas with Christopher it might have convinced Lorelai to actually settle down." Francine said through her tears.

"We thought the plan was close to perfect. Christopher was always on board with "The Plan", the dynastic plan we all wanted, the only problem was, would ever be, Lorelai. If Lorelai could see how happy Rory would be with a family Christmas with her father…"

"Then she might have finally agreed to "The Plan"." Richard finished quietly.

Francine nodded back.

"It would be a few years late but we could have convinced Christopher to go to Princeton like we always wanted Straub," Francine said addressing her husband. "We could give them their futures back! The plan was perfect." Francine tearfully concluded. "Only something happened and instead of putting their lives back on track their lives are over."

"Why didn't you tell me about this plan Franny?" Straub questioned looking slightly horrified at what he'd learned. "I would have told you it was unlikely to work, probably impossible. Lorelai would never have agreed."

"You were too busy with McRae to be told. I never would have even called Emily that Christopher was in town if you weren't that busy. As for Lorelai… Do you think she wouldn't have agreed? Especially when she saw her little girl so happy with Christopher on Christmas? Even then?" Francine asked back desperately before going quieter again. "It doesn't matter though because all this grand plan accomplished was killing our son."

"My little boy is dead because of me" Francine laughed hysterically. "I just wanted him to have the life I dreamed for him and now he has no life at all!"

"Francine if you're to blame for Christopher's death then so am I." Richard cut in. "When Lorelai and Emily started arguing I sent him to help keep the peace between them. Do you know what I said to him before he left? I'll never forget it. I said "_Christopher if you could make sure they don't kill each other_" and off he went. A joke. The last thing I said to him was a joke. If you're to blame Francine then so am I."

Straub remained silent for a moment before doing something that Richard had never seen him do before. The lawyer started crying. Not much. A man of Straub's nature wasn't one for floods of tears but his eyes were wet without a doubt.

"If anyone killed Christopher it was me." Straub's shakily confessed. "Years of pressure I put him under. Plans for him to go to Princeton before he had even been born. I'd planned out his whole life for him. Then the pregnancy happened and all the plans fell apart. I hated it. I hated Christopher for it. I hated my own son. Do you know the last time we spoke on the phone without you there Francine?" Straub asked his wife.

Francine shook her head.

"When he was eighteen years old. That was when…That was when he said that there was no way he'd ever go to, would never have gone to, Princeton. Then he told me that if Lorelai hadn't gotten pregnant? They were planning to go to Europe for a year when they graduated from High school. He was planning to live on damn park benches!" Straub looked dazed for a moment at the memory.

"Isn't it ironic? Rory actually made them stay nearby to us…To you. Do you really think they would have gone for just a year if she hadn't been born? I don't." Straub went silent for a long moment, drinking deeply from his cup, before he resumed speaking. "I blamed Lorelai for years Richard, blamed her for leading my son astray, it was always easier than admitting the truth. Especially to myself" Strobe sighed deeply, before finally he resumed talking.

"I think it was Christopher's idea. Europe certainly was. Christopher began stealing from the alcohol on his 16th birthday as well. Did Lorelai do it before he did?"

Richard paused for a moment thinking hard. He tried to remember. He couldn't recall any such occasion.

"I thought not" Straub chuckled without humour.

"Rory's conception was almost certainly instigated by him." Straub snorted.

"Now Straub-" Richard made to interrupt. He felt his daughter was as much to blame as Christopher.

"Oh I will always give credit to Lorelai for her full complicity, give me another decade I'd have her completely at fault. That amount of time would allow me to lie to myself long enough. Now though…" Straub paused. "Now all I can think about is the fact our children are dead, gone because of a freak accident of fate."

Straub's face went red with anger.

"I could throttle McRae's son. Idiot boy started all this in the first place. If he'd left well enough alone the entire case would have been finished by the 22nd of December."

Both Richard and Francine were startled by the venom in Straub's tone. Especially when directed at a child.

"You can't blame an eight year old for running to his father when a strange noise wakes him up at night. That it was his Father's mistress making the noise is not something anyone could have foreseen." Francine responded. "If anything blame McCrae for cheating on his wife so blatantly in the same house as a young boy still afraid of the dark."

All three were quiet after that.

"Lorelai's funeral is later today. Right after Emily's." Richard said quietly.

"We'll be there." Francine said. She hesitated a moment. "Can we meet her?"

It was obvious who Francine meant.

"She's had a lot of shocks recently." Richard said cautiously. "You can meet her though. Maybe-"

"She's a confused child who's lost nearly everyone she ever held dear." Straub interrupted with the perception a veteran lawyer had amassed. "We shouldn't be introduced straight away as grandparents. Not if we don't want to cause her serious mental damage on top of what she's already suffered. We can't overwhelm the child." As Richard had been about to suggest was the right course of action. "Imply we're related, or knew, Christopher in some way and it won't be a lie. It's best to do any introductions slowly I think." Straub concluded.

"You want to be involved then?" Richard asked cautious but very hopeful.

"Richard" Straub sighed, as though Richard was asking an obvious question.

"She's all we have left." Francine tearfully said.

All three looked out then, into the night sky, in silence.

* * *

_Hello Everyone _

_I hope no one was expecting the story to get happier yet. That will still be a while away. Straub in canon episodes only appears twice. Once in Dear Emily and Richard and again in Christopher Returns. In both situations he is in a volatile situation and is portrayed as a volatile man. Here he has been tempered by, well, the obvious. He's also a decade younger than in Chris returns and with less fixed ideas of what happened in his head. Years in canon allowed him to demonise Lorelai further. Straub here never had that chance. Francine having been the somewhat more loving parent in canon gets a full on meltdown here and while she may be recovered slightly by chapters end still has serious issues to work past. Glad everyone is still enjoying the fic. _

_If any other Gilmore girl's fic has a character dying of TB I'd be intrigued to know it. The fact it makes complete sense in context here is part of the fun of this fic. _

_It took me a moment deciding who Jason's source would be. Then I remembered Mitzi and it couldn't have ever been anyone else. _


	6. Chapter 5: Hope

_**Chapter 5: Hope**_

_**Trix**_

Lorelai woke up at eight am. It was unusually late by her standards but she had only finally fallen to sleep at 2am. She went downstairs to the living room (the dining room still dominated by Lorelai's Coffin from The Wake) where she was surprised to see her great granddaughter already eating her breakfast. It was an omelette that the six year old was devouring with relish, though she began eating far more daintily once she realised Lorelai was in the room.

The omelette smelled thoroughly delicious.

Moments later the omelettes creator entered the room.

"Rory! Rory! You need to try this it will taste amazi-" Sookie's voice faltered when she saw Mrs Gilmore. In Sookie's hand was a plate that had another omelette on it, albeit one that looked very different to the one Rory was eating.

Lorelai wanted to lick her lips, however crass that might be, as the culinary creation Sookie was holding looked even more appetising than the one Rory was currently chipping away at.

"Good morning Miss St James. I trust you slept well?" Lorelai asked.

Sookie managed to choke out a strangled "Yep" before darting back into the kitchen.

"I think you frighten Sookie Trix." Rory said truthfully, as she finished her omelette off. Lorelai didn't like the way the little girl looked at the omelette left behind so greedily.

Now that Sookie had left it behind (without specifying whose it was) that Omelette was HERS!

"I think one omelette is enough breakfast for anyone Rory. Wouldn't you agree?" Lorelai said as she casually picked up the plate before sitting herself down.

The little girl's eyes began to shine with tears. With the sheer love of food she was currently exhibiting, the girl was clearly a true Gilmore at heart.

"If you would like to sample this omelette though I am happy to oblige you." Lorelai replied.

Rory seemed to move with Olympic speed to appear next to Lorelai, plate in hand.

A part of Lorelai wanted to criticise her for rudeness, the other, far larger part, wanted to commend her for politeness in taking her plate over and waiting patiently for Lorelai to decide what she was allowed to have.

"I think this will suffice in allowing you to taste the fruits of Sookie's cooking. Best to eat slowly though and savour every bite." Lorelai said cutting away a generous third of the omelette and depositing it on Rory's plate.

Rory beamed happily and went back to her seat, plate in hand, and within seconds both Gilmore girls were eating.

Both were quickly finished.

"That was great" Rory said happily. Her plate wiped clean.

"It was very agreeable" Lorelai replied. Her plate containing not a scrap of omelette.

"I am going to get another omelette" Lorelai declared. "Unlike you Rory I have not had a full one yet." Lorelai continued with all the grace she could muster.

Rory giggled.

"Mommy would have wanted another one as well." Rory said.

Lorelai didn't pause when Rory spoke, although she wanted to for a moment. Instead she went into the kitchen, quickly asking Sookie (still panicking slightly on her reaction to the Gilmore matriarch), for another omelette.

When she got back to the table Rory was crying, as Lorelai had suspected she would when she had left the room.

"It's ok to miss her Rory" Lorelai told her great grand-daughter. The poor girl had almost seemed to forget what happened yesterday night. Now though…

"Why did she leave?" Rory asked quietly.

"Grandpa says I did nothing wrong but why else would she leave on Christmas?" The little girl wondered out loud. "Was it because I hugged Daddy a lot? I still loved Mommy the most. I just hadn't seen Daddy in ages…"

A large part of Lorelai wanted to cry.

Rory was old enough to understand about death. She was not yet old enough to understand the poor relationship a person could have with their parents. Rory was not old enough to understand the length of the ongoing feud between the wife and daughter of Richard. The child was bright enough to realise that something had gone wrong though and had reached the logical conclusion that it must be down to something, or more particularly someone. Rory had taken the idea that she must be the person to blame, having been the only person that Emily and Lorelai the second both openly expressed love for, and run with that idea at full pelt.

"Rory." Trix said affectionately, with great sympathy. "Your Mother and Grandma loved you very much. They weren't mad at you at all. What happened to them…" Lorelai paused a moment as the girl continued crying.

"What happened to them wasn't you fault." Lorelai concluded.

The little girl stopped crying but remained silent for a long time.

"She didn't hug me goodbye. Daddy did." Rory said. "That's how I know she was mad at me."

Lorelai wanted to curse her namesake, the second Lorelai, just for a moment. Then Lorelai remembered the picture, found in the shed of the Independence Inn, of a laughing woman, more a girl, of twenty-two years old. Lorelai the second had been stubborn, but not old enough to know any better. She'd never had the chance. Only twenty-two years old…

So young to die.

Too young.

The doorbell rang.

Rory seemed happy for the distraction.

"I'll go get it" the little girl said quickly getting out of her seat and making a beeline for the door.

Lorelai watched as the six year old opened the door and both she and Rory found a middle aged woman, who looked very familiar, staring back at them.

"Grandma?" Rory asked looking at the new woman.

The ghost of Emily Gilmore seemed to have arrived at the house.

_**Rory**_

Trix looked like she'd seen a ghost. Rory thought that was sensible because the lady, who looked exactly like Grandma, at the door probably was a ghost.

"Surprised to see me Lorelai." The Ghost said. Her voice didn't sound exactly like Grandma's.

"I thought we'd encounter you earlier Hope. You are cutting the time very fine." Trix muttered.

"Cauterets was snowed in. I would not suggest a Christmas celebrated in The Pyrenees as a good idea in the future. Especially when family tragedy seems to strike just when Boxing Day is beginning." The Lady, who Trix called Hope, shot back.

"You look like Grandma" Rory said bluntly.

"Yes I do." The Hope Lady smiled at Rory. "People have told us that all our lives."

"Grandma's dead." Rory said frowning. "It's weird having you here when you look so much like her. It's confusing. Especially when you're not her."

The Hope Lady laughed loudly. Trix looked slightly upset at Rory but looked far madder at The Lady

"Come now Lorelai the girl makes a strong case for me not being here. I'd have thought you'd leap at the opportunity." The Hope Lady teased Trix.

"Don't be mean to Trix. She lost her mommy too when she was little like me. She knows what it's like." Rory exclaimed.

The Hope Lady looked very sad when Rory said that. Trix seemed to be proud of Rory though. Rory like it when Trix seemed proud of her.

"Rory this lady is your Great Aunt Hope. She was your Grandma's sister." Trix said politely.

"Oh" Rory said back looking very closely at Hope. "Were you and Grandma Twins? You look a lot alike."

"No we weren't twins. Emily was three years older than me." Hope replied kindly.

"I wanted a little sister. I can't have one now though. Mommy and Daddy are both dead so it's impossible" Rory said truthfully.

Both Trix and Hope looked very sad again about that.

"What's the matter?" Rory asked. Adults were confusing she decided.

"When's Richard going to be down?" Hope (Auntie Hope? Rory wasn't sure what to call her) asked Trix.

"Hopefully shortly. I think he only got back at 6am." Trix replied.

"What happened?" Hope asked.

In reply Trix said something in French. Hope nodded back then replied back in the same language.

This continued for a little while.

Rory was getting frustrated.

"I can't speak French. Can you speak English again please?" Rory pleaded.

"Certainly Rory." Hope said. Both Trix and Hope looked at each other weirdly. That was annoying. Rory hated when adults hid things from her.

"What should I call you Miss Hope? Do I call you auntie?" Rory asked.

"Remember Rory she is your Great Aunt Hope. We add a great before we call her auntie in that circumstance." Trix replied but she was smiling nastily at Hope.

Great Auntie Hope didn't seem wholly pleased with the name but she smiled anyway.

"Did you know Rory that Trix is your great grandmother? As she is your grandfather's mother. That's why you could call her great grandma. You add a great there as well." Great Auntie Hope said. Rory didn't like the smile on her face either.

Rory made up her mind.

"Trix is my Trix. She is also my Great Grandmother but I will call her Trix. That works at the moment and she likes to be called Trix. You can be Auntie Hope. I think you like being Auntie Hope and not Great Auntie Hope. The last one makes you sound very old and you're only old." Rory said proudly to the women having found the perfect solution. "This way everyone is happy."

Both women glared at each other before nodding.

"She reminds me of Lorelai." Hope said.

"The similarities are there. The determination certainly." Trix said.

Once again Rory wished she understood what they were really saying but adults were confusing.

_**Richard**_

The alarm went off and Richard got out of bed groggily.

He'd had three hours sleep.

He staggered down the steps about to go into the dining room before remembering that Lorelai's body was still on the table from The Wake only due to be removed to the church later that day.

Instead he went into the sitting room and saw a ghost.

"Emily?" A sleep deprived Richard said.

"I'm Hope Richard." Hope replied gently.

"It was a long night Hope." Richard replied more than a bit embarrassed. The physical similarities between Emily and Hope had always been pronounced but he had never noticed them as much now that Emily was gone.

"Grandpa! Grandpa! Look at me! Look at me!" An excited voice came from behind him. There as expected was his granddaughter.

"Do you think Grandma would think I look pretty?" Rory asked hopefully. "Auntie Hope did my hair!"

Dressed all in black, with a black bow in her hair, Rory did look pretty…The exact correct way a child should dress for going to a funeral.

Richard realized he needed to have breakfast quickly before said funeral began.

Before the funeral began.

The Last Goodbye.

The tears began to well up in his eyes as he contemplated how the next 48 hours were about to go.

Emily's funeral this morning, Lorelai's funeral this afternoon, and Christopher's tomorrow. He wasn't sure how he was going to be able to cope.

Hope caught sight of his face and quickly grabbed Rory's attention quickly.

"Rory would you like to go up to my room and play some games? You're six aren't you? I have one of the best games in the world to play that's only for special children who turned six recently."

Rory was a very clever six year old, but even a highly intelligent six year old is still a child who can be fooled by an intelligent adult.

Excited the little girl ran upstairs, moments later Richard was sobbing in the arms of his mother. He hadn't cried at all since the night Lorelai died when he had done so along with Rory but at this point it had become too much to take. On this day the full scope of what had happened caught up to Richard.

"What am I going to do Mother?" Richard cried. "Without Emily, without Lorelai. Oh god Lorelai" Richard paused a moment full realisation of the latter event of the day sinking in. "I have to bury my daughter. My only child. My little girl." The tears resumed.

When Richard looked at his Mother he saw her at a loss for a moment.

His Mother had never dealt well with grief. Too much death in her early years seemed to have immunised her to it to an extent. Even when Father had died Mother's reaction had been muted in comparison to most people's reaction to the loss of their beloved spouse. Nevertheless, Mother gathered herself quickly and seemed to straighten noticeably.

"Sit up Richard" Mother said.

Richard sat up.

"What is it I've always said Richard?" Mother demanded. "One of life's most important rules."

"Life is a battle and you either entered it armed…" Richard sniffed. "Or you surrender immediately."

"To grieve is good Richard, to grieve is necessary, especially now, but to surrender completely to it would be a dereliction of duty. To lose the battle." Mother stated emphatically. "And Richard you have a duty of paramount importance now. Upstairs is a little girl, the last of our line, who has lost the only life she's ever known, a girl who is now an orphan. I ask you Richard what is it you need to do."

"Raise her?" Richard said. "How can I? I failed with Lorelai." Tears beginning to flow once again. "I failed so badly."

Mother wasn't having it.

"Rory is not your Lorelai Richard. She is already different from your daughter. They are similar yes, in many ways, but they are also different. The mistakes of the past will not be repeated this time. They will not be allowed to." Mother replied. "In addition this time you will also have an added advantage. One you did not have before during Lorelai's childhood."

"What advantage?" Richard asked confused. "How can things be different?"

"Because this time I-" Mother declared. "Am going to help you!"

* * *

_Well if you were hoping Trix was leaving in the near future I'm afraid that ship is now officially sunk with this chapter. Then again the description of the fic kind of gives away that it was unlikely she'd be waving goodbye soon, as does the prelude. The Trix of the series does inform the Trix here but if you like Emily then rest assured Trix won't hold onto her hatred for her forever. The next chapters are going to be pretty heavy emotionally (the tragedy tag is there for a reason everyone) but rest assured Rory's situation will improve. I've been overwhelmed by this fics reception so far and am glad people seem to be enjoying it. Getting into Trix's head Is surprisingly easy given how much scope there is to play with the character and Richard and Rory are far enough away from the series (and affected by The Accident) that there is far less constraint in how to portray them as well. Any faves, follows, reviews are welcome. And I hope you continue to enjoy reading. _


	7. Chapter 6: Emily

_**Chapter 6: Emily**_

_**Trix**_

It's difficult to hate a dead woman.

Lorelai realised this on the day of Emily's viewing. There were friends genuinely upset at her loss, far more than at most society funerals. There were far fewer enemies or those who seemed even mildly pleased she was gone (that one of those who did was a Huntzberger validated all opinions that Lorelai had ever had about Elias and his family.) Most mourners were unexpectedly genuine. It was a very decent turnout given that travel was still difficult during the holiday season.

Lorelai had never felt more conflicted.

If there wasn't an active animosity (on both sides) in a relationship it was very easy to start to feel guilty about one's past behaviour.

Before the funeral Lorelai had told herself that down that path lay ruin and self-doubt. Now though? Now Lorelai's resolve was beginning to weaken.

As the funeral went on Lorelai felt her opinion of Emily being tempered more than it had been in over two decades of her son being married to the woman. She knew Emily had been heavily involved in the DAR and charity work. The sheer extent to which she was involved however was in many respects a career in itself.

Lorelai did not appreciate her image of Emily as a self-indulgent being chipped away by the Reverend Boatwright and other speakers.

When Francine Hayden took to the stage Lorelai almost had a heart attack at what she could say.

The family might never have recovered.

Fortunately the woman (who had been estranged from Emily for more than half a decade) seemed to have a great memory for better times and gave a very respectful, and heartfelt, speech. Lorelai conveniently overlooked that fact the woman looked like death warmed up, with eyes highly bloodshot, and a slight whiff of alcohol (when Lorelai met her after her speech) that indicated just what the woman had been doing till nearly 4:15am the night before.

Francine had sobered up enough however to cleverly omit the fact that Emily's beloved granddaughter was also Francine's own from the speech.

It was, nevertheless, a stirring funeral that matched Emily perfectly.

As Lorelai sat through it, all she could think was it was getting harder and harder to hate her daughter in law. Especially now the woman was deceased.

The celebration after her daughter in laws funeral was even more of a nightmare.

She had to deal with Shira Huntzberger (the woman was up jumped trailer trash who got lucky), Reverend Boatwright (who was tedious), and the unexpected horror that ironically came from conversing with Pennilyn Lott.

Lorelai hadn't expected the results that came from that conversation.

It had occurred quite by accident.

Lorelai had been skilfully avoiding her much younger sister in law, not as many might have thought due to her very "new money" marriage (as long as they were classy about it Lorelai didn't have a problem with new money), but due to Charlotte "Totsi" Gilmore's overpowering use of perfume (a bad habit dating from early adolescence) which left a scent lingering for what seemed like a month (close interaction with Totsi thus being best avoided outside of controllable circumstances). Lorelai was also privately thanking God to herself once more that her other, far more odious (somehow), sister in law was dead. Cecile had been an absolute nightmare of a woman, her failure to understood knock-knock jokes being among the least of her very many crimes. It had not been a coincidence that on Cecile's death a couple years previously Lorelai had been "Too ill to travel from bad flu". She was so wrapped up in her thoughts it was hardly a surprise that she had almost physically collided with Richard's ex fiancé.

"Pennilyn how nice to see you again. How long has it been?" Lorelai had asked Pennilyn as if their near collision had been on purpose.

"Mrs Gilmore…" Pennilyn had stuttered. "It's nice to see you again."

Lorelai frowned inwardly at the response at first, but had ignored it as simple shock, she had pressed on.

"I confess I am somewhat surprised to see you here. I did not imagine you and Emily were on cordial terms." Lorelai had asked politely. A large part of her was hoping that the girl, now a lady of middle age (who might have been her daughter in law) would validate her long held opinion that Pennilyn would have made a better wife for Richard than Emily.

"We weren't friends. Emily avoided most of the committees I was a part of. I avoided the DAR as well. Emily was always better at event planning for them so I steered clear. Richard needs friends here today though." Pennilyn had spluttered.

"Friends? After he ended your engagement to be with Emily." Lorelai retorted. "The invitations had been sent out."

"It was a mutual decision." Pennilyn muttered.

Lorelai paused a moment.

A mutual decision?

"Really?" Lorelai asked frostily. "I had not heard that before."

"Richard did it to save reputations all around. Or rather damage his own as opposed to mine. He found me "in flagrante" with Stephen and one of my friends saw him dining with Emily. Of course Emily was just a "friend" at that point. Thing's never turned carnal as they did with myself and Stephen." Pennilyn said somewhat bitterly before quickly realising what she had confessed.

"You cheated on Richard?" whispered Lorelai angrily.

"We cheated on each other." Pennilyn replied defensively before sighing guiltily (As if acknowledging who committed the greater sin.) "The truth was though, as both our actions showed, was that the romance had been dying for months. I might have acted on my feelings more "robustly" but Richard was certainly not having innocent platonic dinner dates with Emily, and even if those dates never ended with a kiss, or something more, the intent was there. Richard told me so himself."

"And yet you're friends." Lorelai questioned bemused.

"Friends who meet once a year for lunch and only then" Pennilyn said hastily. Seeing Lorelai's expression turn menacing Pennilyn hastily added more. "It's just to keep ourselves updated on each other. There's no romance there anymore. Not for years."

Lorelai was in shock. Pennilyn quickly made her excuses to leave.

"Anyway I need to go back. Stephen was reluctant to come in the first place. He's still a tad jealous of Richard even now. As Emily was when it came to me."

Lorelai was left alone with her thoughts.

A mutual decision? Pennilyn cheating on Richard? Sexually! Emily not being the true harlot of the situation…

Lorelai was starting to have a headache.

A part of her wondered if Emily had known the whole truth of the situation. Lorelai then scoffed at the idea. If Emily had thought she'd triumphed over Pennilyn and that Richard hadn't been cheated on himself Emily would have crowed about it or thrown it back in Lorelai's face over the years.

Then Lorelai thought of the letter. She'd begged Richard not to marry Emily. Begged him on his and Emily's wedding day. With today's news though…Emily had been a better option than Pennilyn.

A better option.

Lorelai wanted to laugh. Years and years of berating and badgering the woman for breaking Lorelai's code of morals and it had been Pennilyn who'd been the real slut. Lorelai had looked for deficiencies in Emily's character and found what she was looking for by sheer persistence.

In the end Emily had won though. As she went to get herself a drink Lorelai contemplated further.

Lorelai still didn't like Emily. The flaws in Emily's character were still there but Lorelai could feel her hatred for Emily diminishing rapidly.

The flaws she'd hated had been minor.

Emily had loved Richard.

Emily had been chaste till marriage (well compared to Pennilyn at least). She would have been a near ideal candidate were it not for a few abrasive personality quirks.

It was getting harder and harder to hold on to her previous opinions of Emily.

Harder and harder.

_**Rory **_

Rory was very sad.

Hearing the Reverend go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, was boring.

Rory missed her Grandma.

Grandma was funny, and dressed prettily, and gave great hugs. Now Rory would never see her again and that sucked.

It sucked a lot.

(Mommy had shouted at Grandma just for inviting Daddy. Rory wasn't sure she liked Mommy for that.)

The Funeral ceremony was over now, and Trix and Grandpa were thanking everyone, as they had a funeral lunch, and Rory was so bored.

Even the food wasn't as good as Sookie made.

"Are you bored?" A voice with a funny accent asked her.

Rory turned around to see a boy a year (or two) older than her holding a plate of food.

"I'm bored." The boy with the strange accent continued speaking. "Funerals are boring."

"It's my Grandmas though…" Rory said half-heartedly. She understood it was a super important day but the boy was right.

It was boring.

The Boy must have heard what she wasn't saying out loud and looked super happy, like he'd won a prize at something.

"You're bored as well!" The Boy said.

Rory was about to deny it but then sighed.

"Yeah it was boring." Rory confessed. "I loved Grandma a lot but this whole thing was boring."

"My Grandpa died a few months ago." The Boy said sympathetically. "That funeral was boring too. I think all funerals are. Doesn't mean you're not sad."

Rory decided that The Boy was nice. He was also right.

"I'm Rory." Rory said putting her hand out for a hand shake. (Rory thought that was what Trix would do.)

"I'm Finn." The Boy, Finn, said, shaking vigorously back. "Let's be friends?"

Rory nodded, she liked making new friends. She didn't have a lot though. Most kid's thought she was a bookworm because she could already read very good ("read well" Trix's voice said in her head).

Finn was amazing. He told funny stories, he showed her the book he was reading (James and the Giant Peach, it looked awesome!), he explained what some of the riskier food was (Rory tried all of it except the caviar because it sounded yucky). They were both having fun.

But they wanted to find someone else to play with.

So Rory and Finn then went looking around. There weren't many other kids there.

For a moment they thought there weren't any other kids there at all.

And there weren't.

Except one.

There was a little girl, the same age as Rory, sitting in a corner quietly reading a book.

"Let's say hi" Finn nearly shouted, grabbing onto Rory's arm and practically pulling her to the other little girl.

"Hello." Finn said loudly and energetically.

The other little girl looked up startled. She locked eyes on both of them, curiously, but also suspiciously.

"What do you want?" The Girl asked.

"To be friends!" Finn said happily back. "I'm Finn." Finn continued hand sticking out.

"I'm Rory." Rory added helpfully. She didn't put her hand out as The Girl was yet to shake Finn's hand.

"Why do you want to be friends?" The Girl asked tentative once more. It was like she thought the offer was a joke or a mean prank. She still didn't give her name.

"Why not?" Finn said back. Rory thought was very clever and difficult to answer.

The Girl seemed to agree, although Rory saw the longing look The Girl gave at the book, she was still holding tightly, that meant she'd probably prefer to still be reading.

Rory was half in agreement with her. But Finn was fun!

"I'm Paris." The Girl said warily. She finally shook Finn's hand.

"Let's go find the Quiche. Its names weird, and it looks weird, but it tastes great." Finn said happily, leading the two girls back to the food.

"Your friend is strange Rory." Paris whispered. "How long have you been friends?"

"I think ten minutes." Rory replied honestly back. "Maybe fifteen?"

To which Paris Gellar had nothing to say.

_**Richard **_

Richard watched out of the corner of his eye, as Rory engaged in deep conversation with Phineas Shelley, and Paris Gellar.

She was smiling.

At least Rory was able to enjoy herself. Richard felt dreadful.

Julian Johnson and Edward James from the club were currently offering their condolences.

"It's a dreadful situation Richard. I know at the club we're all pulling for you." Edward said kindly.

"The service was excellent though Richard. My Uncle could have hardly done better and he's been a reverend longer than most of the people here have been alive." Julian offered a slight joke in an attempt to cheer Richard up.

It worked as Richard found himself giving a small chuckle.

"You look familiar young man." Mother said to Julian as she came over. "Did I here you say your uncle was a Reverend?"

"Yes Mrs Gilmore the Reverend John Wilder." Julian replied.

"The resemblance is uncanny." Mother muttered just loudly enough for all three men to here.

Julian gave a despairing look to Richard while Edward started sniggering quietly.

"He's been told that since he hit his 21st birthday thirty three years ago" Edward whispered loudly. "There's about twenty years difference between them… Still never fails to be funny."

Richard suppressed a guffaw.

"He's planning on retiring to Florida soon." Julian said slightly louder than he needed to.

"I really must go over my funeral plans again then." Mother mused to herself. "It has been some time."

It was at that moment that Straub and Francine came over.

"Richard." Strobe said curtly but kindly.

Francine meekly smiled. She had clearly been crying.

Mother excused herself. "I really must go find Cousin Claudia. It was very impressive of her to make it here for Emily's funeral when her husband is so ill."

Richard walked over to Rory, who was being regaled with a story by young Phineas.

"So then there are cloud people who attack." Phineas said.

"Really?" Rory asked.

"People who live in clouds, or who are made of clouds?" Paris questioned.

"I think it's both." Phineas replied.

"Rory." Richard asked to get his granddaughters attention.

His granddaughters attention focused on him.

"Grandad it's awesome. Finn was telling me all about James and the Giant Peach. James is kind of like me but kind of not. He's a-" Rory thought for a moment but couldn't get the word right. She looked at Finn who remembered the word she meant quickly. It wasn't in the book but he'd seen a film about Oliver Twist!

"Orphan. James is an orphan. I learned that from Oliver!" The young boy said helpfully.

"That's right. It means someone who doesn't have any parents because they died. And I realised that's like me! I'm an orphan!" Rory declared proudly. Then she frowned. "But it's also not like me because I have you, Trix, and Cousin Marilyn as family. I'm still an orphan because mommy and daddy died but not an orphan like James who only has Spiker and Sponge because you're not like them at all." Rory rushed out excitedly.

Richard wasn't quite sure what to say to that.

Rory was right of course. She was an orphan. With all that entailed.

Her Mother dead.

Her Father dead.

A figure that to other children might even be seen as fundamentally strange.

It was like being stabbed in the heart.

Straub and Francine looked like they shared his feeling as they stood in earshot a metre away. As if the realisation had just sunk in that their granddaughter was an orphan. A figure belonging in Victorian novels, or optimistic musicals, and on occasion a combination of the two… Not their own flesh and blood.

Richard needed anything to help him escape this moment. This awkwardness. This pain.

His Mother answered.

She appeared like a ghost. She was certainly as pallid as one.

"She's coming here." Mother murmured. "Her flight was late, too late to attend the funeral proper, but she's coming here."

"Who?" Richard asked. He had an inkling of who it could be but hoped it was an impossibility. "Who is coming?"

His Mother's cousin cut in.

"My brother. But also…" Cousin Claudia began slightly flustered. That knowledge relieved Richard a little at least, as his mother's male cousin was a good humoured, slightly eccentric, and very witty man who was very good company. However there was only one person Cousin William could be accompanied by that could cause such a panic in his Mother.

There was only one person on Earth who could leave her as flustered as she was.

Claudia was still struggling to vocalise the answer that Richard had already guessed.

"Your mother?" Richard said.

Claudia nodded.

"The Baroness?" Straub interjected while Francine looked somewhat puzzled for a moment as if trying to recall some long forgotten information.

Richard had to admire Straub's memory.

"Is she well enough to travel at her age?" Straub enquired.

"She certainly thinks so." Claudia muttered.

"My Aunt is crossing the Atlantic for the first time in a quarter of a century." Mother confirmed with dread. "God help us all."

All five adults were silent.

"Does anyone want some quiche?" Rory, still standing quietly nearby, asked politely.

* * *

_It's been longer than I thought. With respect a global pandemic popped up. In addition I felt I needed to do more background research… I'll be honest I may have got carried away. The current family tree for Rory now numbers over 30 people most of whom have birth and death years. I've also been binge reading series scripts to add more relatives who I've missed into this web as time goes on (as well as for other character info). As well as attempting to realistically integrate characters into real world history through butterfly flap their wings changes (I now know a lot more about ww1 nobility fatalities than I think is relevant to everyday life or most trivia). In addition I'm developing Trix's background and Charles's background as a couple. As the old saying goes if you want something done right make Tolkien say "way… slow down on the character back story". Either way as I wade through the romantic troubles Rory experiences in series 3 in my reading I will feel confident in sinking one ship now. Dean will not be a major presence in this story. He will not be a minor presence in this story. He may be vaguely referenced on one or two occasions in far future chapters. This story trajectory does not have a place for Dean as a lead character in it. As for other stars hollow characters many (perhaps even most) will still be key or minor characters! As for how…_

_Read on… _


	8. Chapter 7: Floria

_**Chapter Seven: Floria **_

_**Trix**_

Aunt Floria terrified everybody, including her family. Perhaps even especially her family.

Occasionally Lorelai had been accused of being cold by some people. It was an accurate enough assessment and it would not be untrue to say that she could be from time to time.

Lorelai knew though that even at her coldest she was like the Sahara at the height of summer in comparison to the South Pole in June that was her Aunt at her worse.

Lorelai had few memories of her mother that didn't involve the woman being sick but she knew that her mother had been a very different character to her twin.

Mother had practically fled her homeland to start a new life with her father in the United States. Given the social stature of her mother's family, and the society view of Americans (even wealthy ones) in Britain at the time it nearly could have been the biggest scandal in Britain since the (blatantly true) rumours surrounding her mother and aunts father.

Aunt Floria had not been best pleased by her twin absconding to another continent. Especially as her mother had chosen to do so on the night after Aunt Floria's wedding day.

By all accounts the breakfast the next morning was something to behold.

It was only Lorelai's grandmother who had been able to calm her daughter down. By all accounts Victoria di Borbone was a clever woman who laughed off scandals that would have destroyed others reputations by simply refusing to care. Considering the true identify of Lorelai's own maternal grandfather it would not be unfair to say that Victoria enjoyed courting controversy.

Lorelai regretted she never got the chance to meet the woman.

Despite her grandmothers best efforts Mother and Aunt Floria had never fully reconciled. Visits to London were far more difficult in the early years of Lorelai's life so she had only the vaguest memories of meeting the woman once or twice during her very early childhood.

Her late teens and early twenties were a different story of course.

Lorelai considered all of this as her cousin William entered the room.

He immediately sped over to Richard, at a speed that bellied his age, and gave him a massive hug.

Which was not the done thing by any means but was very typical of him.

"I'm so sorry about Emily Richard." Her cousin said kindly. "I'll miss her greatly. While I never got the chance to properly know Lorelai you can always count on my help."

Her son looked touched. Her cousin was sympathetic. All seemed well.

Her Aunt of course ruined the moment.

"William you just broke all rule of etiquette." A sharp voice burdened with age cut across the room. A practiced voice that knew how to pierce through chatter without seeming to shout. "Must you always be so wilfully obstinate to society protocol?"

Lorelai turned and looked at her aunt.

She was dressed in mourning clothes. That much hadn't changed as her aunt never wore anything else. Lorelai wondered who still made the styles her aunt wore, the clothes were at least seventy years out of date after all, before deciding the woman must have had them expensively tailored herself.

The old woman was robust though. A single cane was the only support required and if the wrinkles on her face and the brilliant white of the hair gave evidence of her aunt's very advanced age you could not tell it from her posture. Despite the ravages of time you could also tell she had once been a very beautiful woman as well.

"Who does that woman think she is?" Shira Huntzberger said rather loudly to Mitchum standing next to her.

That was a mistake. A huge mistake. She even heard a muffle gasp from a few people in the room. Mostly those of her own generation who knew precisely who her Aunt was.

And what she was capable of.

Lorelai saw her Aunt's eyes glint with something. The hunger of a predator.

For prey had just offered itself up on a silver platter.

"Who do I think I am?" her Aunt said, closing in slowly but menacingly on Shira Huntzberger. "Who do I think I am? I am one of your betters' girl."

Her Aunt looked the woman up and down.

"Over priced designer clothing, tacky gold bracelets, rancid perfume, and is that a Louis Vuitton handbag." The old woman said, rattling off insults as if describing the weather. "I can smell what you are coming off you. The stench is quite overpowering. Gaudiness but no real class at all. New money to the core!"

Shocked silence filled the room.

Aged blue eyes, still shockingly clear, glinted with malice as her aunt waited for Shira's reply.

"The Huntzberger family has been part of society here for nearly 170 years." Shira spluttered. Beside Shira Mitchum was slowly but surely inching away from his wife.

More brains than Elias possessed then.

"Huntzberger you say?" Aunt Floria smiled. It looked rather like that of a crocodile. An apt description of her Aunt in general actually. "Well that makes all the difference my dear."

Mitchum Huntzberger was now nearly a metre away from his wife.

"The Huntzbergers aren't new money of course. Well not by your American standards anyway. You personally however reek of it. Married up didn't you? Bravo! Everything you expected? Hoped for? The Huntzbergers do have their famous proclivities as I'm sure you know."

Her Aunt inched closer to Shira. The younger woman trying her best not to flinch away.

"Tell me my dear for I am dying to find out. What's your arrangement? Do you ignore the affairs? Do you give tacit approval for him to "let off some steam"? My personal favourite of course are those who are too foolish to notice the reality of the situation. Well come on dear. We're all dying to know. Which type are you?" Aunt Floria asked with mock sympathy.

Shira Huntzberger was looking at the floor now. Not able to bring her eyes up to meet Floria's face that was now just inches from her own.

"One of the first two options then. Alas." Floria sighed dramatically her free hand giving an exaggerated flourish to the crowd of mourners, who were now all watching the situation develop like the audience of a play. "The third option normally proves the most entertaining in polite and even impolite company." Aunt Floria paused for a moment as if to contemplate something. "It does cause one to wonder what the female version of a cuckold is. I confess I do not know the term myself. It must therefore be rarely used as I am quite certain I am one of the more well-read people here. Surely it must be a problem for students of the English language who have delved far deeper than I. A professor perhaps?" Aunt Floria mused. "Certainly someone deeply entrenched in academia."

Shira Huntzberger was shaking slightly and it wasn't with anger. It was the shaking of a mouse when the cat had it caught in its claws.

"Oh cheer up Shira you're not dead. Well not yet. Be content with that at least. Feel thankful you're not married to Elias. The things I've heard about him would make your toes curl." Floria mock whispered conspiratorially but loud enough for the whole room to hear. Lorelai was completely unsurprised her Aunt knew precisely who she had been talking to from the very beginning. Her Aunt always knew when she engaged a target as the old woman just did. "At least Mitchum allows you to keep your Honor. Your daughter of course not the personal quality. That's as absent as any class you attempt to portray yourself as having dear. "

Her aunt laughed then. A tinkling noise that was as beautiful as it was sharp. A noise that perhaps a sadistic member of a fairy court from some of the crueller legends would have given. A laugh that sliced through Shira Huntzbergers social standing from what Lorelai could see in the faces of certain members of the room in the know. Once the tale spread Shira's reputation would be devastated for months if not years.

Secrets that polite society would not openly discuss, but whisper behind closed doors in private settings, had been brutally exposed in a public setting by seemingly an interloper. For a lesser member of society it would have backfired. It would not happen here. The horror in the expression of some of the people in the room told Lorelai that much. They knew why Aunt Floria could get away with it. Not because of her bloodline alone, though that would have been enough, but from what Floria herself had done in the past to the last person who made a significant attempt to try to stand against her.

Her Aunt locked eyes on Mitchum next.

Mitchum, to his credit clearly knew some of what her aunt was capable of. Of who she really was. He subtly bowed.

"Lady Brabourne."

Her Aunt sniffed.

"A man who knows his courtesies, you help your case with that at least." Aunt Floria said.

"My wife didn't mean any offence My Lady." Mitchum said tentatively.

"Noted. Nevertheless offense was given. Can't be helped given her background of course. She looks rather unwell now poor dear. Perhaps she is sick." Her Aunt continued glancing briefly at the still cowering and pallid Shira. The woman looked on horrified at her husband effectively prostrating himself before the woman who'd just savaged her and his family as well. "Yes she is definitely sick. I am sure neither Richard nor either of the younger Lorelais will take offence if you both leave to ensure she recovers promptly." Floria stated before finishing very softly with one final word.

"Now."

Mitchum Huntzberger knew when a battle was lost, even if it was over before it really began, and was quickly dragging a Shira, still in shock from what happened, from the room panicked as an antelope attempting to escape a hungry lion.

The rest of the room watched in a state of terror.

One of the most important couples of the social set had been dispatched, torn down in a public setting, and effectively banished, with not even the slightest peep of protest.

Those who knew who her Aunt was were unsurprised at what had occurred but sickened they'd seen it up close. It was the social equivalent of seeing a tiger tear out a man's throat with its teeth then proceed to devour the rest of him.

Those who didn't know who she was decided it was probably safer not to ask where they could be overheard by the woman and address her as formally as Mitchum had. Those who looked as though they knew who the woman was were in for deep questioning later in a place of safety. For the sake of their own social standing they could not do anything less than that. Not if the woman had the power it seemed she wielded.

Satisfied with the carnage she had wrought her Aunt made her way gracefully but slowly towards her. Sureness in every step. Menace in every step.

The aura her Aunt carried reminded Lorelai of a moment in the opera Tosca. Her Aunt's ponderous journey towards her was eerily reminiscent of that of the victorious Scarpia in the opera during his triumphant victory over poor Tosca in the last moments of the first act.

All that was missing from the scene was the accompanying music.

"William I am one hundred years old. Ensure I have a chair at least." Her Aunt ordered as she neared Lorelai.

"Of course mother." William said quickly grabbing Richard. Straub and Francine quickly followed with them.

At least her son and his friends could be spared. She owed her cousin a good meal out for that.

"Four people to get one chair. How remarkable." Aunt Floria sniffed with mild disdain, or perhaps amusement. "They will take at least five minutes and more likely ten. William has never had the patience for subtlety when it came to avoiding me.

Well the old woman wasn't in a bad mood at least. Dispatching the Huntzbergers had clearly amused her. Not that it fooled Lorelai into a false sense of security. Cousin Claudia had already escaped the immediate vicinity the second she heard her brother's voice. It was remarkable the speed a nearly eighty year old woman could move at when she wished to escape her estranged mother. Rory was talking quietly away to her new found friends. The Shelley boy and Gellar girl advocating fleeing in self-preservation. It was probably the wise choice.

Lorelai would have to face what was coming alone. Which was a shame as what was coming next was going to be painful to hear.

"Well you got your wish Lorelai. The poor woman's dead. I expect after all these years of whining about it you're finally happy now?" Aunt Floria began.

Straight for the body blows.

"I'm not happy. How could I be happy? I never wanted this." Lorelai replied in earnest.

"Your granddaughter and the Hayden boy perhaps. But this? This you always acted as though you wanted Emily erased from the family." Aunt Floria responded.

It was stated as fact. Unarguable. Uncontested. The gospel truth.

It shamed Lorelai but Aunt Floria wasn't entirely wrong.

In her darker moments Lorelai had wished Emily would go away. That had been before though. Before the truth as she now saw it, before the accident, before she saw what it was doing to her son and great granddaughter.

Lorelai hated herself for her previous thinking. She wondered if some cruel genie had answered her darkest wish in the worst way possible.

Her Aunt was watching her.

"Did you finally figure it out?" Floria smirked.

Lorelai was silent.

He Aunt continued.

"Of course you did. Was Emily flawed? Certainly. Never nearly as bad as you made out though. I only met her annually but she was never the harpy you painted her as. There's a reason we haven't talked in nearly a decade Lorelai. Your last visit to this awful country you behaved abysmally to that poor woman. She only ever tried to be a dutiful daughter in law. If you feel sickened now you should."

The knife was stuck in again and again by her Aunt. Every sentence containing a truth Lorelai was desperate not to be confronted with.

"But if you feel guilt and despair now over your actions be done with it quickly girl. There are more important things at stake now than pointless self-recriminations." Her Aunt critiqued before asking a question Lorelai hadn't expected.

"How is the child?" Her Aunt asked. The Old Woman's eyes were locked on Rory who seemed to be attempting to convince her friends there was nothing to be afraid of.

Lorelai's blood run cold. Her Aunt had power with a capital P and craved ever more for her family with a hunger never quite fulfilled. She never took an interest in something unless she had a plan ahead.

Lorelai knew from experience.

"Rory is doing alright I think. She has nightmares. About the night of the accident." Lorelai confessed attempting to keep her face emotionless. For once the strategy worked.

Her Aunt looked in shock for a moment. The old woman's expression softened briefly. The glimpse of who her aunt could have been many years ago might have even been visible for a second.

Only a second though. Quickly her aunt's usual mask to her emotions realigned itself upon her face.

"Rory?" Aunt Floria said. "Mother used to have that as a nickname."

Which was news to Lorelai.

"I never knew that." Lorelai said truthfully.

"There was no reason you would. Mother was too painful to talk about. Especially after my dear twin passed so young." Aunt Floria confessed.

"Grandmother died a heroine. I know that much." Lorelai said. "From the history books."

Accounts of her grandmother's death were in more than a few after all.

"My mother never was one to follow the rules." Her aunt chuckled, possibly even genuinely, before turning morose. "Nearly eighty years later though what happened still hurts. She could, probably would, have lived were she not so stubborn."

"Not for long. It was a quicker death compared to the drawn out agonising one she otherwise would have had." Lorelai said trying to comfort her aunt.

Her aunt's eyes flashed with anger, another sign of what might have been true emotion, but only for the briefest of moments. The centenarian then gave a wistful sigh.

"You're right of course. Mother got a chance to die a heroine and took it. Her name emblazoned across the papers for something heroic rather than a scandalous but probably true rumour. I have no doubt she died the way she did that night to do so on her own terms." Aunt Floria mused. "Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt me to speak of her now. I can barely bring myself to speak your mother and you know that relationship was fraught with difficulty.

The two were silent for a moment.

"You know who reminded me of my mother?" Aunt Floria said.

"Who?" Lorelai asked.

"Your Lorelai. Your granddaughter. Their lives had parallels after all. Different actions taken of course, but the same spirit. Certainly a reluctance to get married when it was the only proper course, though that option was never feasible in my mother's case. Their ages when they made their decisions are a vast difference as well. They shared though that same rage against being constrained by society's rules as well as a fondness for breaking them. I only met the girl once but she had that fire in her." Aunt Floria said. "Fire like my Mother."

Aunt Floria paused before her voice turned somewhat passionate.

"It was snuffed out far too soon. Extinguished before her time. Like my Wyndham, like Beatrice, like Jane, like Amelia, like Mary, like Fabian. So many names… Are we cursed Lorelai? It would seem so. In our family we either live too long or die too soon." Aunt Floria muttered bleakly.

Lorelai agreed. Charles dead before sixty. Emily dead before fifty. Arthur dead before forty. Lorelai… Lorelai dead before thirty. Before even twenty five.

It wasn't fair.

The pair remained silent.

Even now Lorelai couldn't tell how much of the emotion her aunt had just seemed to express was real or a veil over a hidden agenda. The woman's mind and true feelings were opaque most of the times even to her own family.

"I would meet her now Lorelai." Her aunt said.

"Rory?"

"Yes" her Aunt nodded. "You know how we are similar to each other. Though it may be years before the girl realizes exactly why and how we are, probably long after I have shuffled off this mortal coil. Regardless even if we are separated by nearly a century I can help the girl." Her aunt locked eyes with her own.

The same blue as her great granddaughters own. They glinted with something. Though Lorelai could not quite think what.

Lorelai hesitated.

Her Aunts help was almost always both a blessing and a curse. Knowledge gained from the woman certainly useful but often dangerous (very often to others and rarely to the wielder).

Even now the lessons that she had allowed her aunt to teach her had seen her in good stead. Though the cost to others had been almost too great.

Her aunt would make Rory stronger, that was without a doubt, but any exposure to her aunt would change the girl in ways that Lorelai the second would have rightfully detested.

But her granddaughter wasn't here to protest and the life Rory could have had in Star's Hollow was in over in all the ways that truly mattered.

Lorelai thought of what she knew Rory could face in the years ahead.

Life was a battle and there was no better armourer on society's battlefield than her Aunt Floria.

Rory needed to be strong for what lied ahead in her life. A harder life than the one her Mother had envisaged for her in most respects. A harder life that required a harder person.

Lorelai's decision was easier than she thought it could have been.

_**Rory**_

The very old lady was looking at her.

Paris and Finn and run away and hid. Finn said that the old lady frightened him too much for him to stay, especially when Trix had started talking to someone else and the old lady had walked closer as if to speak to Rory. Paris had agreed with and hid like Finn but Rory thought that was partly for another reason.

Paris probably wanted to go and read her book again.

After a moment or two Rory realised that the old lady was waiting for her to say something and wasn't going to tell her off like the other lady who had been made to leave.

"Who are you?" Rory asked the very old lady.

"I am your Great Aunt Floria" Floria replied.

Rory thought hard. (Great) Auntie Hope was Grandma's sister but Great Aunt Floria wasn't grandpa's sister. He didn't have any brother or sisters. He'd told her. Plus Rory had overheard Trix calling her Aunt as well. Rory thought more. That would probably make Floria Trix's mommy or daddy's sister.…

"You're not my great aunt." Rory said hesitantly. "You must be Trix's mommy or Trix's daddy's sister." Rory thought hard and made an educated guess. "Does that make you my great, great, great aunt?"

"Well reasoned and you are correct. My sister was your "Trix's" mother." The woman began. Already Rory felt that she has passed a little test. "Although Aunt may be easier to remember as a general term as opposed to all those greats. In addition Mommy is an American term I have never cared for and many elsewhere also dislike, particularly among polite society across the pond. Mum or mummy is more appropriate if informality is required and such a term must be used. Mother however is always most appropriate. It might be ideal to remember that when in society should you come to Britain at any point. Americanism's are rarely appreciated there."

There were a lot of big words in there. Very big words. Rory thought she got the gist of it though.

Mommy is bad. Mummy is good. Mother was best.

"Why did that man call you Lady Brabourne if your name is Floria?" Rory asked.

Floria looked pleasantly surprised for a second.

"You're a sharp one aren't you? I am of the nobility Rory. One of the less bothersome things about it is I am addressed as Lady among members of polite society. My son is addressed as Lord for similar reasons. Do not concern yourself on it though, the technicalities bore even me to tears. Americans seldom keep to such things, though it is courteous to so, and I find myself pleasantly surprised when they do recognise the proper state of affairs. Courtesy so rarely becomes them after all."

That was another answer with lots of big words. Rory was learning a lot of them today. Again she thought she understood most of it.

Aunt Floria was a Lady (like a princess was a princess!) and although she didn't outright say so Rory got the feeling Aunt Floria didn't like Americans very much. That made Rory remember the scared lady who was made to leave.

"Why was that woman scared of you?" Rory asked.

"Do you not find me scary?" Floria said to Rory smiling.

It looked kind of like a crocodiles smile.

Rory did find the old lady a bit scary. Before the accident it might have even been a lot scary. Being without her mommy no… mother was a whole lot scarier though. Rory was surprised to find that the situation got less scary as the days went on since mummy died though. After all that? One old lady wasn't really very scary at all.

"Not having my Mummy" The word had a different shape in saying it to mommy but Rory found herself liking it. "Is much scarier than you."

"Nicely evaded Rory. Not saying I am not scary at all I noticed. But you did admit that I am not quite as scary to you as I was to that woman. Which is of course the correct state of things. Some things and some people should be feared though." The Old Woman smirked. "You are six years old if I recall?" Floria said as if she had forgotten the information.

Rory could tell she knew though. Talking with Aunt Floria was almost like a game!

"Yep. My birthday is on October eighth." Rory said. "I think you knew that though. I'm smart." Rory frowned. "I don't think most kids in kindergarten know their birthday though. They can be kind of stupid.

"I'd imagine you are right. You are indeed a very clever child. Especially for six. You have a great mind in that brain of yours." Floria said proudly.

"Are you going to try to take my brain?" Rory said warily.

Because Rory suspected that if Floria could she might well try.

Floria began laughing then. A kinder laugh than the one before with the other lady. A real laugh.

"Heavens no child. Your brain is your own forever. No one shall ever take it away from you. I do wish to aid you in improving it though. Well your mind at least."

Rory felt relieved. Only one difficult word there and she was really sure she knew what it probably meant.

Improve. To make better!

That was good of Aunt Floria to offer. Rory liked her brain and her mind as well.

Improving it would be very good.

"You are right to protect your brain though child. The brain cannot be taken but the thoughts we have inside can be stolen by the unscrupulous from our mind if we are less than cautious in the company we voice them. Be wise on who you trust your thoughts with." Floria proclaimed.

Rory didn't fully understand all the words once again but she felt she knew what Aunt Floria meant.

Rory didn't want anyone stealing her ideas. Too much had been taken away from her already. Grandma, Daddy, Mom- Mummy. Aunt Floria was right! Her thoughts were hers! They should be no one else's.

"The words you use sound funny and I don't know a lot of them but they sound smart and I want to understand them! I really like learning new words because I always try my best in class. But my mom- mummy said kindergarten is not really proper real class and I should have fun." Rory thought mummy might have been wrong on that though. You should try to learn in Kindergarten. "I think you're right Aunt Floria! My ideas are mine! I don't think other kids or adults should take them from me! Never ever!" Rory said proudly to Floria hoping it would convince the old woman she knew what she had been told.

Because Rory felt she had learned a lot very quickly.

And Rory liked it.

"Excellently put. You show great wisdom as increasing ones vocabulary is always a noble goal. Very well done Rory you have firmly grasped the lesson." Floria smiled.

Floria's smile definitely looked like a crocodiles. But that didn't really matter because Rory was proud.

Someone was proud of her learning.

Really properly proud.

("Why hadn't mummy cared as much?" A voice in her head whispered.)

"You have done very well indeed." Aunt Floria smiled once more.

And Rory felt the happiest she'd been since mummy had died.

_**Richard**_

William was Trix's cousin but for Richard he was the closest thing that he had to an uncle.

His father's only brother had died when Richard had barely learned to walk. His mother's only brother had died more than two decades before he was born.

Cousin Will had been the uncle Richard had always wanted. Fun loving, eccentric, funny. When he had hugged Richard it had meant a degree of safety again. He had felt eight years old once more during a trip to visit his mother's family in London.

That Will was a Baron (and also a Baronet as well) was neither here nor there.

They had purposefully taken their time finding the chair they were looking for.

"That old woman will not die from a lack of a chair." William said. "She has made it quite clear she doesn't plan on dying yet. I sometimes doubt she ever will. The reapers probably afraid of her more than she is of him anyhow."

Eventually though time had elapsed long enough and the pursuit could be delayed no more. A chair was located.

"My mother is appeased." William said

"Thank the Lord." Richard replied hoping his great aunt would tear him a new one over the delay.

"You're welcome." William grinned.

Both men chuckled. That joke was one of William's favourites. Had he been Richard's true uncle he would have been the fun uncle.

The both men remembered where they were. A sombreness settled.

"Lorelai's funeral is later today isn't it. " William noted.

"Yes it is. I imagine it will be harder than this one has been." Richard replied.

"Have courage Richard. When Jane and Amelia died back in 78 I wanted to curse the world. It wasn't fair that my daughter died of cancer at thirty five. It wasn't fair that the stress of her death caused my wife to have a stroke during the funeral preparations. But I got through that and you'll get through this. "

Richard smiled at the man as Straub and Francine joined them having quickly nipped for some more from the buffet table.

"You found a chair then." Straub said. "Took you long enough."

"Time away from my mother is a precious commodity not to be wasted. But we do need to get it to her before your granddaughter is made her next major project." William stated.

"Major project?" Francine asked.

"My mother likes our family to do well. Unfortunately Mother's moral compass has been pointed to her personal magnetic north of ruthless pragmatism since she was at least thirteen years old and quite probably a bit before that. Very helpful if you have aspirations for great power or wealth, especially if you wish for a potent combination of the two, but not so helpful if you want a quiet content life where such things have less importance." William replied.

"You make her sound almost evil." Straub commented.

"Well she certainly isn't on the side of the angels most of the time." William confessed. "Unless the angels are advocating for increased power for her family. While I don't think she's ever outright killed anyone directly she has gone on quiet the merry spree of social murders on occasion. Shira Huntzberger was her being comparatively kind. My mother would metaphorically knife a family member in the back, and has in the past, if it suited her ultimate goals. The fate of Cousin Edward is perhaps the most infamous example of what she can do to family when she sets her mind on something. I on the other hand am content to manage the family estates and twiddle my thumbs in the House of Lords unless I have an opportunity to make an excellent speech or a clever quip."

"The House of Peers throughout the war did nothing in particular." Straub muttered to himself.

"And did it very well." William said back with inappropriate glee. "A fellow Savoyard. Always a pleasure to find one."

Straub Hayden's eyes lit up.

"Trial by Jury made me want to be a lawyer you know. I was devastated when they told me American judges weren't allowed to wear the wigs." Straub explained.

Francine had a look of utter despair on her face. Richard remembered that Francine had never been particularly enamoured of Straub's obsession with light opera.

"Please don't start Straub. It's Emily's funeral. Quoting and discussing Gilbert and Sullivan is not appropriate." Francine said immediately sobering the conversation.

"Of course Franny" Straub said remembering himself and the occasion.

As they got into sight of the six year old Rory talking in depth to the hundred year old Floria they heard the last smattering of conversation.

"..very well indeed." Floria concluded smiling.

Richard though the woman looked like a damn crocodile. Rory however did not seem frightened. Even his daughter had been frightened of Floria on the one occasion they had met.

Rory seemed enraptured.

It concerned Richard. It concerned him deeply.

"My chair. Wonderful." The old woman said. "It only took you ten minutes. Some originality in your thinking when it comes to trying to avoid me would be nice William"

She knew. The blasted woman always knew.

"Standing is good exercise mother. You might live another year." William said casually defending his delay with the flimsiest of excuses.

"If nothing else at least your capacity for sarcasm is something to be proud of." Floria said dismissively. "My dear Richard I am so sorry about Emily and Lorelai. You know how much I liked Emily and I regret Lorelai was not able to visit me more often."

Richard didn't regret it.

Although Emily found his Aunt Floria far more bearable than his mother, perhaps had even gotten on with the woman, the same could not be said for his daughter.

Lorelai the second's sole visit to Floria had managed to subdue and control even the fourteen year old Lorelai for a moment after the old woman had invited the girl for a private audience. Whatever the two had discussed had deeply shaken his daughter so much she had actually behaved. His daughters silence after meeting his great aunt was a victory that not even Emily wished to repeat at such a cost to their daughter's happiness. The girl had been comparatively muted for the remainder of that trip to Europe.

Richard had an idea then remembering that there was another family member that Floria was well inclined towards who they had also seen that trip.

"Hope managed to make it here to the funeral as well. She got in early this morning." Richard said.

"Hope is here. How wonderful." Aunt Floria said. "I can't wait to see her again. She managed to escape Cauterets then?"

For a second Richard thought that would be the end of it, his aunt being suitably distracted, before Rory went up on tippy toes close to Floria and whispered in her ear.

Most of the adults held their breath. You didn't just whisper in The Dowager Baroness Brabourne's ear. It wasn't the done thing.

Aunt Floria let out a laugh though.

"I quite agree with you on that Rory" and quickly began to whisper back with Richards Granddaughter.

Most of the other adults looked uneasy. Familiar as they were with the woman's reputation. His cousin William looked horrified at what was occurring. It was the expression on his mother's face that made Richard feel ill though.

The resigned acceptance of the situation, Trix would not intervene in this.

Which meant she approved.

Rory gave a little giggle then. The centenarian and kindergartener were clearly getting on famously.

Which did not bode well.

It did not bode well at all.

* * *

_Well this chapter has been far less time coming. During the course of my research I read the transcript for cinnamons wake. Cousin Claudia is described in a manner that makes her seem like a very very distant relative. However by the description she could be Trix's first cousin which is actually a pretty close relationship imo (first cousin twice removed). In my continuity the idea of Trix as only child having no living siblings means cousins are of increased importance. This led to me thinking what if Trix Grandmothers sister is actually still alive in early 1991? Floria and the backstory for Trix's mother developed from there. There have been a few story threads laid throughout this chapter and I hope people are enjoying this. If anyone has any theories on Floria's Father, what was the incident that caused the death of Victoria (Trixs grandma), or even what the big incident involving Floria was feel free to speculate in reviews or messages. I think I've left a few hints and I hope people are still enjoying the story. Next up will probably be Lorelai's funeral but no promises. _


	9. Chapter 8: Lorelai

_**Chapter 8: Lorelai**_

_**Trix**_

Rory had not left Aunt Floria's side since they'd met at Emily's funeral for any significant time except to change into new clothes for Lorelai's funeral.

Aunt Floria was dressed almost exactly the same, though even she had conceded to the second Lorelai's request for colour at the service by adding a dark green shawl to her ensemble.

So dark green as to be almost black.

It was still the most colour anyone had seen on the woman in over half a century.

Cousin William had almost choked on his cup of coffee when he had seen his mother in the shawl.

Rory on the other hand had been delighted.

Throughout the afternoon the six year old had been having hushed conversations with her many times great aunt. Conversations that neither Lorelai nor Richard were privy to.

Lorelai had remained calm though.

Her aunt could be a woman with few scruples but she had never ever harmed children. Spoken uncomfortable truths to them certainly, manipulated them absolutely, but the woman had never harmed them.

The truths were always ones they needed to hear.

The manipulations? Only ever for the child's ultimate benefit. Even Richard would agree with that from his own experiences.

Harm them? Never.

That was not to say that Lorelai would not keep a very watchful eye over the interactions that Rory had with Floria. Her Aunt was capable of horrible things if someone attracted her ire and while she might not take out her frustrations on Rory that didn't mean Richard or Lorelai were safe. Then again Lorelai wasn't one to judge Floria given Lorelai's own past actions.

She had helped her aunt willingly on more than once occasion and didn't regret it. Even if they had been mostly estranged since Emily had married Richard.

The death of Emily brought a reconciliation of sort with her aunt. Something which Lorelai, though glad of, also felt hideously guilty about.

And she was already feeling pretty terrible for she was at her only grandchild's funeral.

Lorelai had been feistiness and colour all her life and it showed at her funeral.

It was an eccentric cast of characters who had come from the small town her granddaughter had escaped to.

Even the Reverend himself was a character. The man had met Lorelai on many occasions as the girl worked in and around the inn where the Reverend had a weekly dinner with the town's Rabbi of all people (who was also incidentally at the service).

The service itself was brief. There was colour, and music, and laugher.

Until the family crypt.

It did not escape Lorelai's attention that the only truly sombre moment of the entire funeral was the music Lorelai choose to use during her final internment.

The intermezzo from Manon Lescaut.

What better way for Lorelai the second to symbolise her internal imprisonment than a piece that was directly tied to a character that found no escape from her circumstances despite trying very desperately to do so.

If Lorelai the second had been older, perhaps the music would have been changed. In many respects the funeral still represented a fiery teenager who thought herself immortal. Filled throughout with a few subtle (and far more unsubtle) jabs at her parents. A funeral from a rebellious teenager designed to wound. Never one that was meant to have actually been put into practise. Especially as Lorelai knew that her granddaughter would rather have died than actually attend an opera, or have one included in her own funeral, if it was the real deal.

Fate does love its cruel ironies.

The funeral that was never meant to be happened.

The corpse who never planned to be one so young was so.

A dead girl whose planned rebellious funeral, a slight that she never really thought would happen, happened.

An act of rebellion against a mother too dead to care and a father too devastated to ever notice any slight against him.

If it was a victory it was the most pyrrhic Lorelai had ever seen.

Shortly the ceremony was over once again.

Lorelai noticed that unlike with Emily's funeral Rory had not shed a tear.

Which was somewhat concerning. It was quickly rendered a secondary concern however as Lorelai found herself having to deal with the singular peculiarity that was the residents of Stars Hollow.

The sheer amount of eccentric town's people was something to behold.

Lorelai it seemed had managed to make friends even with the limited free time her job at the inn granted her.

Even the town selectman, a pompous fellow that grated on Lorelai's nerves a great deal, was apparently acting on his best behaviour according to Mia Bass.

Lorelai was delighted when she saw that Luke Danes had decided to pay his respects.

The man had grumbled an excuse that it was the decent thing to do. Especially as even Taylor (the bothersome town selectman) was coming and Luke Danes' would apparently be damned if Taylor Doose of all people would have something over him.

A boisterous flowery woman, who had introduced herself as Patricia LaCosta ("Miss Patty dear" added on in a half sultry tone at the end of the introduction), was most upset at the prospect that Rory would no longer have the opportunity to attend ballet class.

Lorelai had almost choked on the gin and tonic she had been drinking.

Gilmores were not ballet dancers.

They did not have the balance for ballet. If a Gilmore had to learn a type of dance that wasn't ballroom then tap was about the best they could do.

Gilmore's did poorly with dance in general if Lorelai was being honest.

Gilmores needed structure, precise movements that could be codified. They would have little success in standing en pointe. Tap they did comparatively better at.

Lorelai quickly changed the potential ballet lesson to one of tap.

Crisis averted.

She and Richard had discussed that a gentle transition away from Stars Hollow would probably benefit Rory far more than an abrupt one. It would do no harm to the girl to finish out her kindergarten year in the company of her first friends before joining Chilton. A dance class would be a nice experience as well.

Lorelai was glad that there were still spaces for Chilton. It was a good school. It had done no harm to Marilynn, unlike her niece's horrible first year at College, and Rory had the society standing (if she utilised it correctly) to climb to the top of the social tree there.

Marilynn had headed the Puff's during her time after all.

Lorelai regretted thinking on the subject of Marilynn when the woman herself appeared before her.

Her eyes were red, almost certainly from crying.

Lorelai doubted it was over the second Lorelai though.

"Did your aunt have to attack Mitchum and his wife like that?" Marilynn questioned. "Did she have to make a fool of them?"

Lorelai and her niece got along fine 99% of the time. Better than fine even. Especially when Lorelai was across the ocean you would find it most peculiar to hear a bad word come from Marilynn Gilmore's mouth on Lorelai Gilmore.

Unless it was about the Huntzbergers.

It had been over forty years since that unpleasant affair and still Marilynn had not yet truly accepted that Lorelai had acted for Marilynn's own good.

Elias was a cheater plain and simple. For a man to break an engagement in such a manner was the height of poor taste. Especially when the man in question begged and crawled at Lorelai's feet to try and make things right. As if such a slight could be easily forgiven.

Cheaters should never prosper.

That Marilynn had at first been prepared to forgive, had been prepared to go through with what would have been a sham of a wedding after the fact, was simply neither here nor there.

The fact Lorelai had been proved right a thousand times since, vindicated completely (in her opinion) the actions Lorelai had taken years before.

Aunt Floria had smiled when she had been told of the incident. Of course Floria's husband had been loyal to the grave.

That the grave happened less than ten years into Floria and Wyndham's marriage was of no particular consequence with regards to holding such a high standard.

"Marilyn." Lorelai began gently. "Floria only responded to an insult. A grievous one to someone of Floria's station. Mitchum's reputation wasn't damaged to any extent more than common society gossip exposed as true. As for Elias… We both know what my aunt said was accurate. What Elias has done in the past does go beyond the pale. Don't forget how he hurt you so Mari"

Marilynn wasn't listening and quickly ran to Totsi for comfort, despite Totsi being six years Marilynn's junior. Totsi incidentally, was clearly getting into the swing of things conversing with "Miss Patty".

Lorelai hoped Totsi didn't end up hugging the poor Stars Hollow woman as was her habit.

For Miss Patty's sake.

_**Rory **_

Rory had been thinking a lot the past few days. Ever since the salad.

Because, Mummy had been wrong about the salad.

And once Rory realised she had been wrong about salad she had begun to question other things Mummy had said as well.

Then she had talked to aunt Floria and the questions had become bigger.

Which had led her to realise a lot of things but one thing in particular.

Rory wasn't sure she liked her Mummy any more.

Telling the truth was good. Mummy and all the other adults said so.

But Mummy? Mummy had lied…

A lot.

Many things that Rory had thought were true, that Mummy had said were true, just weren't any more.

To start with:

1\. Mummy's parents could be mean and stupid.

Mummy had liked to make jokes about it. Rory didn't really agree at the time. Now she knew for sure Mummy was wrong.

It was just not true. Grandad was great and so was Trix. Grandma was great as well. Grandma had brought Daddy to Christmas after all! It had been the best idea ever.

And Mummy hated it.

That led to Rory realising another lie by Mummy:

2\. Daddy wanted to be there at Christmas, and her birthday, but Mummy said he couldn't come because he was busy.

It was not true. Mummy showed as much when Daddy was there on Christmas (for the first time!) and Mummy was mean to him and Grandma. Mummy didn't think Daddy should be there on Christmas. Had there been other Christmases where Daddy wanted to come but wasn't allowed? Birthdays?

Rory thought there probably had been.

There could have been more Christmases spent in the nice big house where Grandma and Grandpa lived. Happier birthdays as well. Which led of course to lie number three:

3\. The shed at the Independence inn was an awesome place to live. The best place to live.

It was not true. Rory had her own room at Grandpa's house. Her own room! All belonging to her, with a proper bed and everything else. She had never had all that before! Aunt Floria was surprised when Rory asked Floria she and Mummy didn't live with Grandma and Grandpa before the accident. If there was space to have her own room why did mummy and her live in Star's Hollow?

"Rory." Aunt Floria had said kindly. "You lived with them till you were nearly a year old. Then your mother ran away with you. They tried looking but couldn't find you until your mother let them know where she was."

The cot in the shed wasn't as nice as Rory's new bed. Not in the slightest.

That lie made Rory angry. Rory loved Mia but why were they living at the inn when they could have lived with Grandma and Grandpa? It didn't make any sense.

It was this lie that made Rory realise the last two lies. The lies that hurt the most. The first of the last two lies had made Rory very sad:

4\. Mummy was proud of her.

Mummy had said it all the time. It was almost like a catchphrase. Rory had believed it. Only when Mummy was gone did she realise something.

It was not true.

"Mommy I can write my name now!" Rory had said one day after pre-school. It was before all the other kids even knew most of their letters.

"That's great hun." Mum had said, tiredly, before going to sleep almost straight away.

Sookie had said that Mum had worked a long shift and was too tired to really notice what Rory said. Rory had learned this much later when Rory had asked her why Mummy didn't care about her learning, shortly after Grandma's funeral.

Rory just knew at the time that Mummy had forgotten Rory's big news when she woke up the next morning. She had never mentioned it at breakfast.

It had taken three days before Mummy had realised what had happened. By then it felt a little too late.

A lot too late.

Trix, Grandpa, Aunt Hope, and especially Aunt Floria? They had all remembered when Rory had done something clever. They had all been really proud. They'd given hugs and smiled and made a big deal of it.

Straight away.

There had been other times as well where Mummy hadn't noticed. Or forgotten. All of which Rory remembered. All of which exposed the biggest lie of all. The one Rory had been told most often:

5\. Mommy loves you more than anything else, or anyone else, in the whole world.

This hurt the most. Because Rory wished more than anything that it was true.

But it wasn't

Mummy preferred fighting with Grandma and Daddy than spending a happy Christmas with them all together.

As a family.

Now Grandma and Daddy were dead because Mummy would rather run away than give Rory what she wanted more than anything for Christmas.

Even if Mummy would have had to pretend could she not at least have tried?

If she really loved Rory as much as she said Rory thought she would have.

Daddy had loved Rory enough to hug her goodbye. Daddy wanted to be a family. Rory could tell.

Mummy had just stormed out of the house arguing with grandma. She hadn't said goodbye. She clearly didn't care.

Grandpa was right. It wasn't Rory's fault everything had gone wrong. Rory didn't know why she had blamed herself before. Only one person was really to blame. Only one person caused all the bad stuff to happen. Only one person whose fault it was.

It was Mummy.

Rory still loved her Mummy, but she knew it was less than before, a lot less, and she wasn't sure she liked her any more at all, maybe not even a little.

Not with all those lies. Not with what happened to Grandma and Daddy. Because it wasn't Rory's fault at all.

Rory knew who to blame.

Which was probably why Rory didn't cry at Mummy's funeral.

At all.

_**Richard **_

Richard watched his granddaughter throughout Lorelai's funeral.

She didn't cry. Once.

It was when his great aunt looked at the girl, baffled at the complete lack of emotional response from Richard's granddaughter, that Richard realised that for once the mostly heartless old woman might not be at fault.

Because if his great aunt had no idea then things truly had gone off the rails.

Richard was almost afraid to talk to his granddaughter. Perhaps she was in shock.

Unfortunately she wasn't.

"Rory? Aren't you sad?" Richard said comfortingly. "It's ok to cry you know. I know you loved your mother very much."

The answer Richard could never have seen coming.

"I'm not really sad." Rory said in as even a voice as six year old could have at a funeral. Especially that of her mother. "Not anymore."

"It's Mummy's fault you see. I thought really hard and it's true." Rory said in the same tone of voice as if she was discussing the weather. It did not escape Richard's attention that Rory had already changed how she referred to her mother. It wasn't just the usage of the British term (Floria's influence rearing its head already). There was a new detachment in Rory's usage. A new distance. As if the little girl was holding Richard's daughter further away from her heart. The next sentence though Richard could never have seen coming.

"It's Mummy's fault Grandma and Daddy are dead Grandpa."

Richard was horrified.

Horrified at what his granddaughter has said.

Horrified at what he suspects his granddaughter has concluded of her own volition because not even Floria would have put such an idea into Rory's head.

Horrified that a six year old can think that her mother can be blamed for two such pivotal deaths in her life.

Horrified at the little girl's coolness towards the person who had been the most important person to her. .

But Richard is most horrified of all because in many respect his granddaughter has ascertained the most horrifying thing of all.

The truth of the situation.

Of all the figures to blame in the disaster that was the accident (that were not the driver) it was Lorelai who was the most culpable. It was Lorelai who escalated a conversation into an argument. It was Lorelai who walked out of the house as Emily followed. It was Lorelai who got into the car. It was Lorelai who drove away.

Richard knew Lorelai was not the true villain of the situation. That would always be the idiotic drunk driver. But Lorelai was the key factor in putting the others in the situation in the first place.

Richard found himself feeling mildly angry for a moment at his own dead daughter before almost being washed away by a wave of guilt at blaming his only child for her accidental death. It was folly blaming the victim of a criminal. Pure folly.

Richard realises then though that he is already too late. It he experiences anger at his daughter, if only briefly, what must Rory be feeling? Without all the additional information of the long feud and Emily's tendency towards manipulation what caused Rory to settle on this idea?

In reality though the reasons don't really matter. Not anymore.

The ship has sailed. The die is cast. The Rubicon crossed.

Rory is a bright six year old and Richard has no doubt for her to reach the conclusion she has, which in many respects should be an alien idea to a small child, nothing but outright lies will now sway her from it.

Which Richard can't do.

Richard can introduce Rory to family member after family member who she will love, let her meet new friends (and keep old ones) she'll adore, but his granddaughter has hit upon something close to the ugly truth of why she is an orphan at six years old…

Richard hopes she will forget it, find another person to blame, but in his heart he suspects she never will. Richard could dissuade Rory from the idea that the crash were her fault because that was blatantly untrue.

He fears he cannot deter her from the view Rory now has of her mother because that is based around something much closer to fact.

Uncomfortably close in fact.

Trix is next to him before he knows it.

From the look of horror on his mother's face Richard knows that she had heard what Rory has said as well and has come to the same conclusion as he has.

Richard will give anything to escape this situation. He will take anyone as a distraction.

He is delivered Straub and Francine Hayden.

"Richard I know we didn't get a chance to properly meet Rory earlier do you think it's possible now?" Straub asked politely the girl in question within earshot.

Richard could very nearly kiss the man.

He would take awkward familial introductions any day over having to talk more with Rory about Rory's new theory regarding his daughter and her culpability in the death of Rory's grandmother and father.

Rory proves her intelligence very quickly with the original plan of a slow introduction of Straub and Francine as additional grandparents quickly shot apart.

As Richard reintroduces Straub to Rory Richard notices her look at Straub's face.

"I didn't notice it at first but your nose looks a lot like my daddy's did? Your whole face actually. Like grandma and mommy were similar? Are you his daddy? You're the right age I think?" Rory says.

Straub is immediately lost for words.

Francine however is quickly laughing.

"You must be daddy's Mummy?" Rory says. "If you are married to Mister Straub."

Straub recovers himself promptly after that. Francine is still laughing.

"You are right Rory I am your grandfather and my wife Francine is your grandmother."

"I have more family." Rory said excitedly. "Trix I have more family." Rory told her great grandmother as if the information was somehow new to her.

"I'm going to tell Aunt Floria." The little girl said before running away.

Richard was slightly flabbergasted. Despite Rory's intelligence she still had a six year old's exuberance.

"Well that went better than expected." Straub commented softly.

"I'll say." Francine said still giggling.

Richard expected his mother to comment only to find Trix staring at a man in his early eighties who had come with the others from Star Hollow. The man was currently being badgered by the obnoxious town selectman.

"I thought he was dead." His mother whispered in shock. "I've thought he's been dead for over sixty years."

"Mother." Richard questioned.

"I need to speak to him now. If just to thank him. He saved the family Richard." His mother spoke fervently and started to make her way towards the man. "We'd be nothing without him now. Nothing."

Saved the family? This was a story Richard did not know at all. An intriguing prospect that helped to bury Rory's frightening new perspective on her mother at the very back of his mind.

"Who is he Trix?" Richard asked puzzled but also eager to know. "Who is that man?"

"Joshua Twickham." His mother replied.

* * *

_Well this was a difficult chapter to write although if you look back the seeds for Rory's new perspective on her mother have been planted throughout. Through Rory's eyes her mother has let her down while through older eyes we can see the flaws in Rory's reasoning. Unfortunately comparatively small defects in Lorelai the seconds character (occasional absent mindedness, running one's mouth and most crucial of all in this case impulsiveness.) have been magnified by the accident and led Rory to the partially correct conclusion her mother is the cause of it. The feud Lorelai with her parents difficult for a child to understand means Rory cannot empathise with why her mother acted as she did. Unlike in the show there is no easy fix for this. In case it wasn't already clear much of the storyline for this fic has been preplanned. Otherwise I would not be able to have cliffhanger like endings. Don't blame me for this. Blame Dickens instead who pioneered this whole technique in the victorian era. There were riots during The Old Curiosity Shop during it's inital run. Riots! Then again they had to wait months. I am much kinder and promise a chapter will arrive in good time. _

_Maybe. _


	10. Chapter 9: Joshua

_**Joshua**_

_**Lorelai**_

Lorelai remembered the first time she'd ever met Joshua Twickham.

It had been 1927 and she had just turned 10 years old. She and father had just moved into a new house (mansion) that father had bought. Over half a century later she remembered the party.

Nominally it had been to celebrate her 10th birthday.

Practically it was a chance for father to celebrate another successful year for his investment firm. It had been the height of the roaring twenties and business had been booming.

Everyone seemed elated.

Except Joshua Twickham.

Her father had introduced her to the nervous young man early in the party. Not yet twenty and seemingly anxious at everything he saw.

And everyone.

Apparently the Spanish flu had hit his family especially hard. Both parents dead. Six of his seven siblings also dead (the sole survivor a much younger sister). Aunts, uncles, cousins, and his grandmother. All were gone. He, his sister, and his elderly grandfather the only survivors of the pandemic from a family that had numbered nearly forty in their small town.

A town she now knew must have been Stars Hollow.

The deaths had affected Joshua to a large degree.

A very large degree as it had made Joshua Twickham paranoid beyond all reason.

She'd noticed it as a ten year old, at that first party. Joshua Twickham did nothing to hide it after all. Later meetings only added to her evidence of his peculiarities.

There were constant trips to the bathroom to wash his hands when they were exposed to the elements.

Said hands when rarely exposed however as they were almost always covered with gloves, normally those for evening wear, oftentimes worn even when it skirted the border of propriety.

There was a polite but shaky bow that he used as a greeting in contrast to a handshake when he could get away with it.

Lastly there was his reluctance to stand anywhere that might be touching even slightly close to someone else.

All in all Joshua Twickham seemed to treat life as if he was navigating an active minefield.

In another place of work it would have caused him to lose his job. Lorelai's father never contemplated letting go of Joshua for his eccentricities it because there was one critical detail about Joshua Twickham and in reality the only one that mattered.

He was brilliant.

Her father once said that Joshua Twickham must have made a deal with a spirit of fortune of some kind. Long term and medium term his advice was correct nearly every single time.

Not even her father knew how he did it.

All of this Lorelai had been told before she first met the man.

Which was why the young Lorelai had been concerned with what Joshua was saying when she saw him later in the party after the first meeting.

Father had been deep in conversation with several of the other partners when Joshua had been asked for his opinion on what the future might hold.

Even if he had been very junior he had reaped significant returns for the company already.

"So Joshua what do you think is the right call. The market seems to be on an upward trend." Father had jovially asked the 19 year old.

"Short term the market looks fine… But mid-term? Long term? Gold." Joshua had said simply. "I'd go for gold."

"Poppycock." Another partner chortled. "Gold is for when you think the markets going under. That and cash. This markets going to go up forever!"

The rest of the partners all murmured their agreement. Although Father had looked very curiously at Joshua with a knowing look in his eye.

"It can't go up forever." Joshua had argued.

Most of the other partners laughed. All except father in fact.

Joshua just sighed. With the exception of her Father none had seemed close to believing him.

"As amusing as young Twickham's thoughts are let's turn to more important matters." The original partner said dismissively. "Now Henry. Tell us how you managed to snag this place off Alva when Benjamin was desperate to turn it into rubble. He nearly had a conniption when I asked if he'd lost his interest in it. I know we're all dying to know how you got one past him." The Partner continued.

"Well a few years ago Beatrice and I…" Father had begun the tale at which point Lorelai had tuned out of the conversation. She'd heard the story too often for it to be of any interest any more.

Lorelai was too busy wondering why all the men, except father, had ignored Joshua.

Lorelai thought that was ill advised at the time. Nothing good could last forever. Her mother's death had taught her that. The deaths of her siblings as well.

Joshua had been right of course as others had learned to their great horror just a couple of years later as the market that was going to "go up forever" promptly had a legendary crash.

Much like Cassandra of Troy he had uttered a prophecy that night nearly all present had ignored.

That had been sixty odd years ago.

The Joshua that stood before Lorelai today had aged in that time. Yet in many respects he was almost exactly the same.

Especially as he was clearly trying to move away from the space encroaching figure of the Star's Hollow town selectman.

"I'm glad your health was feeling up to coming today Mister Twickham. We were all worried about your scare last month." Taylor Doose said sympathetically (and while encroaching on his personal space) to Joshua.

"Thank you Taylor." Joshua chuckled nervously darting a little further away from the obnoxious man. "Now is you'll excuse me I need to speak to…?" Joshua was frantically looking for an escape route.

"Joshua. I could scarcely believe my eyes when I saw you here." Lorelai swept in. "It has been far too many years. Come, we have much to catch up on."

Joshua gratefully followed her then (at a respectable distance of course) till they found a quieter space.

"Father and I thought you dead Joshua. Explain." Lorelai demanded rather petulantly. Initial thoughts of thanking Joshua had fled on seeing the man up close. She no longer felt the seventy plus years she was. Instead the twelve year old girl distraught that the person she liked best in father firms was no longer there, was in fact dead, reared her ugly head.

Joshua Twickham looked around himself as if noting the various mourners before sighing deeply.

"I can explain Lorelai. Not here though. There are far too many ears and if the town, especially that damned Taylor Doose, knew the truth of what happened all those years ago I'd never get a moments peace again." Joshua explained quietly.

"I have a lot of questions Joshua." Lorelai said with a note of menace to her voice.

"And I owe you a lot of answers. I'd give you my address but it would be easier if you just asked where "Old Man Twickham's" house is when you get to town. Any time you're free would do, except Fridays when I have bridge, and Saturdays when I have my weekly tea at the inn. " Joshua replied.

"Old Man Twickham?" Lorelai smirked.

"A close to inherited title I found myself bestowed with the best part of three decades ago. My grandfather was called the same. It started out as an in joke with those I grew up with who knew the old man. Then it started to eventually become accurate. Now I rarely get called Joshua even by the odd person old enough to still know my name." Joshua grumbled.

Lorelai was openly sniggering now. It didn't last for long.

"Lorelai. I just wanted to say. My condolences on your granddaughter. I saw the girl a couple of times at the inn. I never knew she was related to you though… She never mentioned her last name to me. I just thought I'd pay my respects. I owed your father a lot." Joshua kindly said.

Lorelai sobered and offered her own thanks before Joshua disappeared back into the larger spaces between people in the room.

Richard cautiously made his way over to her.

"Did you manage to thank the man?" Richard asked still perplexed at who Joshua Twickham was.

"We're meeting after Christopher's funeral a week or so from now." Lorelai casually replied.

Lorelai couldn't help but appreciate seeing her son grumble at her lack of a real answer, it was just like he was six years old again and denied his favourite toy for not finishing his reading.

It still amused her.

_**Rory**_

"Do you miss her?" Lane asked.

Rory didn't really want to answer her best friend.

She'd had great fun telling Floria how she now had more grandparents and was really happy.

Her thoughts about her mummy were still fraught and hadn't gotten much better after she'd told Aunt Floria.

Lane had liked her mum though so she was confused as to how to step around the question. The silence was starting to drag on.

"I don't think she wants to answer." Another voice chimed in. Rory had been delighted when she had spotted Paris again at the reception. Paris had informed her that apparently as Rory had dragged her away from her book at the funeral earlier she should go and talk to Rory again. Paris had implied that her parents had been so delighted she'd made a friend it was why they had bothered to come to this funeral at all.

"Sorry that your parents made you talk to me again" Rory said. "I know you'd rather read."

"I don't really mind. You're smart. Madeline and Louise, my other friends… they're kind of stupid. They can't even count properly yet, and they can't add at all!" Paris snorted. "Their reading's bad as well!"

Rory and Lane had nodded sagely at this. Both were great at maths, much to Paris' shock, as they tested each other a few minutes earlier after introductions between Paris and Lane. Aunt Hope had been judge.

Paris and Rory was both great at adding (and learning subtracting) but Lane was actually better than both of them.

"Mamma makes me work at math all the time." Lane had explained to Rory and Paris. "She said the further ahead I am at maths the better I can help out in the store."

Both Paris and Rory felt a bit better that their reading was ahead of Lane's. It had been more difficult to test that part though. Plus it made Lane sad. She had only felt better when Aunt Hope said that they were all well ahead of where a Kindergartner should be.

Rory was still trying to find an answer to lanes original question when all three were interrupted by another unexpected arrival.

"Rory! Paris! New girl!" Finn had said happily before giving a squawking Paris a big hug.

"Who's he?" Lane had asked.

"He's Finn. I don't know why he's here." Rory had mused. Unlike with her grandmother's funeral there were far less stuffy people. "Are your Mum and Dad here?" Rory asked.

"Mum?" Lane questioned out loud.

Rory realised it was the first time Lane would have heard her switching.

"Right way of saying it Rory." Finn said delighted at her use of the term. Then he promptly answered her question.

"They weren't sure at first. Then gran said we needed to come out of something called familial obligation."

"What's familial obligation?" Paris asked intrigued.

"No idea." Finn replied cheerfully. "Sounded important though."

"Anyway Finn this is Lane. She's my best friend." Rory said.

"Hi!" Lane said shyly. Rory found that funny though it wasn't much of a surprise. Mrs Kim didn't like Lane talking to boys and Finn was older than they were. Finn was also bit of a shock to meet for the first time regardless.

Aunt Hope looked deep in thought for a moment as if trying to recall something important. Then she began speaking.

"Familial obligation is obligations to family. Things that you need to do for family members."

"Like going to funerals even if they're boring?" Finn said.

Rory felt a bit angry for a moment even if funerals were boring you shouldn't say it out loud like that. Aunt Floria had said so after Grandma's funeral.

It wasn't polite!

Aunt Hope nodded.

"A fairly crude explanation but that's about right. Although you didn't need to add the part about funerals being boring. It could hurt people's feelings." The last part was said gently but firmly.

"Sorry if I hurt anyone's feelings." Finn said looking at Rory guiltily having noticed Rory's face scrunch up a bit.

All three little girls quickly muttered assurances that everything was fine. Hugs of forgiveness were given between Finn and Rory. The situation, had there been anything of significance, was quickly forgiven and forgotten.

"As for why there is family obligation in this case my information is a bit of a guess." Aunt Hope said. "I'm not sure if I'm right but if I recall I think you and young Phineas share an ancestor sometime in the 19th century."

"Indeed they do" Aunt Floria cut in.

The ancient woman had made her way over to where the children had gathered by complete surprise. This time Finn and Paris didn't escape and neither did Lane who also looked terrified.

Floria turned to look at Finn. "If I recall young Phineas you are related to Rory as a fifth cousin once removed through my mother's sister."

"And she's Finn's third cousin once removed through me." A voice with an Australia twang cut through.

Rory watched Aunt Floria's face take on an angry look.

Rory turned to Finn who just pointed at the new woman and mouthed "Grandma"

"Felicity a pleasure." Aunt Floria's voice dripped with venom. "It has been some time since we last met."

The other lady outright laughed.

"That's a nice way of putting it. We haven't seen or spoke to each other in over fifty years. My husband's died since we last met." Felicity said back.

"Pity I never got a chance to better acquaint myself with him." Floria blatantly lied.

If looks could kill Felicity was aiming one at Floria.

It was then that Rory noticed they looked very similar.

Aunt Hope had in the meantime disappeared completely.

"I see the years have treated you well. Dead husband aside of course." Floria said as if it didn't matter. "Your grandson looks healthy at least." Floria said staring at Finn.

"He is." Felicity said back bluntly.

"William and Claudia are doing well in case you wondered." Floria noted.

"We keep in touch. I'd left Emily's funeral before you arrived. I got the message you were here from William when I got back to our house here in Hartford." Felicity replied.

"So you decided to come and cause an awkward social scene at my family's funeral despite being warned of my presence." Floria frostily accused.

"Your family?" Felicity said angrily. "Your family? You say that as though they are not my famil-"

"Flick it's great to see you." Cousin William interrupted, giving the woman a huge bear hug, as suddenly Rory's whole family seemed to appear with him including Aunt Hope.

And she had chocolates with her!

Rory was torn for a moment. The adults looked like they were about to have an interesting talk.

But there was chocolate and Aunt Hope was heading away with it.

The others were already gone.

And at the end of the day Rory was a Gilmore.

Chocolate won.

_**Richard**_

In the family there were two things that weren't spoken about ever.

The first was who Richards's maternal grandmother's father was. The second was his mother's "other" first cousin through his great aunt Floria.

Claudia was distant with Floria.

William ignored Floria.

Felicity hated Floria.

The feeling was by all accounts mutual.

Felicity had been the problem child. A society rebel. In many respects had Richards daughter known of her the second Lorelai would have idolised her.

Of all Floria's children it had been Felicity who had made the woman crack.

Claudia has chosen to jump ship from England with the equivalent of American royalty and Aunt Floria had reluctantly acquiesced. She could hardly talk as her sister had done the exact same thing.

Claudia's husband was also very very rich even in the midst of the depression and that fact (along with a number of very generous contributions to various causes in England) ensured Claudia and Floria's relationship remained cordial. Even if it was distant by choice with the advent of commercial airlines making no difference to the relative lack of interaction at all.

Williams's marriage had been the right match for his society level, but a woman chosen against his mother's wishes and constant complaints. In fact William's actions had given Richard the courage to do the same many years later with Emily. Especially as Richard had noted that Floria and William's relationship had managed to survive the incident. Although Aunt Floria was prone to criticise the woman William married constantly before her untimely death.

The woman had never spotted her own attitudes reflected in Trix. Which was fairly hypocritical considering the breakdown that Trix's attitude to Emily had caused in the two's relationship.

Felicity however had only written a note and cheerfully absconded to Australia with the firstborn son of a Baronet (who also happened to be her second cousin). The similarities in absconding from family were striking to Richard now he thought about it. Not quite what Lorelai had done but shockingly similar in the ripples it caused. The marriage had been something close to unacceptable, especially as there were several promising suitors waiting in the pipeline of a higher social class. Effectively eloping, to a foreign country, as the two had was outright scandalous.

Floria had frankly lost it.

Her relationship with Richards's great great aunt (the young baronet's grandmother) had deteriorated from its former closeness and the scandal may have contributed (to some extent) to Floria's short temper when Cousin Edward had insulted her not long after. That in turn contributed to the prideful man's very public downfall, solidifying Floria's reputation on both sides of the Atlantic to never, under any circumstance, provoke the woman.

With regards to Felicity she was effectively excommunicated from the family.

She was excised from conversation after she left, becoming persona non grata at any events where Floria might attend. To even mention her in passing, however inadvertently, was to invite Floria's ire.

Floria from that point on had two children. Felicity did not exist.

Felicity hadn't seemed to overly mind it according to William. The two women's relationship had been troublesome for the entirety of the girl's childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. Felicity had been born six months after the death of Floria's husband in the First World War. It was not a massive leap to realise some of the grief of the situation had translated into a rather cold and austere upbringing for all of Richard's mother's cousins but in particular the young Felicity.

Felicity had left the family and had not exchanged a word with her mother until now. They'd been dead to each other for all intents and purposes. Both were content that the other was the better part of half a world away never to be seen again.

It was a common secret that most of the family kept in touch with Felicity though, even if Floria didn't know or pretended not to. Her siblings were closest to her obviously, but Trix had also kept in touch intermittently and Richard had visited Australia once when he was five years old.

If he was honest Richard had pretty much forgotten the whole thing until that moment. He was ashamed to say he hadn't even remembered Phineas was technically related to Rory.

It was distant enough after all. With the firm Richard didn't have time to keep track of his mother's disowned cousin. Richard could hardly be blamed for not knowing the detailed lives of all of the family. Normally he left that to Emily.

Although Emily hadn't known about Felicity. Even if Emily had been smart enough to lock on to some of the rumours about Trix's grandfather.

As the two women both over 70 eyed each other Richard began to back away.

This was a confrontation that was half a century or more in the making.

Explosive.

Dramatic.

Not to be missed.

When the news spread out, from the few society members kicking about the place, others would be distraught they'd not been there to see it.

And Richard himself had no interest at all. Quickly he made his way over to Hope and the four children.

"Grandpa what's a third cousin once removed?" Rory asked.

"And a fifth cousin once removed?" Paris also asked.

"How can you remove a cousin?" Finn questioned. "Do they disappear or something?"

The questions were giving Richard a headache.

He went for the simple answer.

"Cousins are family." Richard said simply.

All the children nodded. They knew that at least.

"The number before them means how distant they are. A removed indicates even more space."

Rory's eyes went wide.

"Does that mean that Finn is family?" Rory asked in awe. "I have a cousin!"

"Cool. She can be like my sister. I've always wanted a sister." Finn said happily.

"I thought you said you had two sisters." Paris accused.

"They're much older though. Rory is like a younger sister." Finn explained.

"I'd like a sister." Lane sighed wistfully.

"Me too." Paris agreed. "The house is lonely a lot". It's just me and my Nanny most of the time."

"You two can be sisters with each other if you want. Or we can all be sisters." Rory suggested.

"Does anyone want a brother?" Finn asked hopefully.

As the children continued to excitedly discuss the new familial possibilities. Richard began to realise he may have inadvertently created a monster.

Hope just laughed.

* * *

_Authors note _

_Hello been a little while. Had a bit of writers block on this chapter but managed to break it recently. Below is a bit of science that helps to explain Joshua Twickham's paranoia. Or not as you might find. The next paragraph contains some distressing statistics so feel free to skip it if you wish for the second paragraph beginning At this point. _

_In case anyone's wondering why Spanish flu is such a big part of this story up here's an explanation. Until recently it had been comparatively forgotten historically by many although it had always interested me. Incidentally it was an incredibly deadly pandemic. Especially to adults aged 20-40 in the second wave. This is almost in direct contrast to Covid 19 which follows similar patterns as normal flu strains when it comes to being particularly deadly for the older and ill. 2.7% of the global population was wiped out by The Spanish Flu (210,600,000 deaths had the same result happened today.). Taking into account it did not spread everywhere and China in particular was comparatively unaffected the scale of it was horrific. The US conservative estimate is nearly 700000 deaths (rounding up from 680000 or so). As a percentage of the population that was roughly 0.5%. Scaled up if the Spanish flu deaths happened as they did then in the US today using the relevant figure from overall Spanish flu deaths in the US that we have that would be around 1,655,013 deaths. Also take into account record keeping was far poorer 100 years ago and estimates could mean that number was even higher. In addition as the deadlier virus was associated initially with the east coast and Stars Hollow is in New England the feasibility of a family being wiped out by Spanish Flu while not very likely was very much in the realm of the possible. All it would take is Mr Twickham's father to have been a soldier who caught the deadlier strain and made his way home to Stars Hollow confined in close quarters with others in the family home. As always research is important to me in this story even the less pleasant kind. _

_At this point it should be clear by now in the first phase of the story who the three main characters are. I'm having great fun with Trix who because she is so little developed in cannon I have great leeway with in developing back story for as well. As might have been hinted at already other characters that are only briefly named or referred to in the show will also get a lot of development. Marilynn's storyline already being hinted at last chapter. That's part of the fun of this fic being so very au. _

_Next time is the conclusion of Lorelai's funeral. Stay tuned! _


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